With the announcement this week of Paul Feig’s GHOSTBUSTERS reboot casting Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon, confirming the all female angle of the project, there’s been a lot of opinions thrown around the internet… many leaning toward the negative side. GHOSTBUSTERS is one of those beloved franchises, and people don’t like seeing something they cherish get messed with. But what do the original folks involved think about all this? Dan Aykroyd has been very passionate for years about wanting to make a third movie, always keeping the hope alive whenever asked about it in interviews. And at one point original director Ivan Reitman was apparently on board with the potential production with Sony Pictures. Sadly, Harold Ramis passing away last year had many thinking things would never move forward. Then suddenly Paul Feig was attached, and the idea of a all-female main cast was being talked about. And now that concept is a reality.

Ivan Reitman recently spoke to IGN, right before the casting announcement hit, and he made a few comments on the proposed Feig-helmed idea… we can assume he already knew what was coming. Reitman was quoted to say “He’s a really terrific director of comedy. He’s done particularly well with actors who are female and his idea of doing this where the Ghostbusters are women was actually a terrific way to look at this afresh and not say ‘Oh well that person’s not as good as Bill’ and ‘That person’s not as good as Danny.’ It would cut down on those kind of comparisons and you could just deal with the idea, which I really believe in.”

In an issue of Entertainment Weekly last year that spotlighted the 30th Anniversary of the original GHOSTBUSTERS, Aykroyd said “But now we’ll have a third movie with hopefully some miniskirts. I think they’re going to kick ass on the concept. I’ve always wanted lady Ghostbusters. We at Ghostbuster Corporate Headquarters in Culver City are so excited to see what Paul Feig does.”

Then this week, after the announcement, he added the following statement when speaking to THR. “The Aykroyd family is delighted by this inheritance of the Ghostbusters torch by these most magnificent women in comedy. My great grandfather, Dr. Sam Aykroyd, the original Ghostbuster, was a man who empowered women in his day, and this is a beautiful development in the legacy of our family business.”

As for Ernie Hudson, who played Winston Zeddemore in the original two GHOSTBUSTERS films, he’s previously made it clear he didn’t care for the reboot idea. After the official casting announcement, he’s pretty much re-confirmed his stance:

This is obviously a bit of a hot button topic for many, and I’ve already stated that (while being a serious fan of the original films) the whole thing feels like a Hollywood stunt and not a change anyone really wants to see. To me the problem is it kind of goes against the initial story idea. The original concept was that these guys are basically like garbage men or exterminators, who just happen to have knowledge of the supernatural. They clean up the dirty messes no one else wants to deal with. Why make that concept into an all-female team? Sexism arguments aside, it just doesn’t feel right or necessary. Would we suddenly change Captain America into a woman and keep the same name? How about Indiana Jones? And on the other side of that coin, would you want to see BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER remade as BUDDY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER? Some ideas feel inspired, and others just feel like a gimmick. I’m trying to reserve judgement until I see the finished product, but I can’t pretend to be very excited about it at the moment. Where do you stand on the issue? Let us know in the comments.

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