Jason Reitman Opens Up About the New ‘Ghostbusters’ And His Father’s Approach to Sequels

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Jason Reitman recently appeared on Neal Brennan’s Blocks podcast (see below), where he opened up about his work on Ghostbusters: Afterlife, his filmmaking style, and his father Ivan Reitman’s thoughts on sequels.

Jason shared his thoughts on Afterlife, admitting it might be the “least funnyGhostbusters film but saying it still manages to bring people to tears, which he found rewarding.

He explained that the idea for the movie came from a long-held vision of a teenage girl finding a proton pack in a barn. Interestingly, his daughter was the same age as the character Phoebe Spengler during filming, which made the project even more personal to him.

Jason reflected on how important the film was in a family sense, noting that his father, Ivan, passed away about a year after they finished production. He explained that filming Afterlife allowed him to think about how his father felt while making the original Ghostbusters and how it influenced his approach to the film.

His daughter was also involved in the project, which made it even more special for him as a dad.

The conversation also touched on the differences between Jason’s approach and Gil Kenan’s direction of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Jason explained that for Afterlife, he aimed to replicate the shooting style of the 1984 original, using the same techniques and limiting the use of modern technology. For example, there’s almost no use of crane shots in the film.

Jason also shared an interesting tidbit about his father’s views on sequels. Ivan never fully understood the appeal of returning to old stories, and that might explain why Ghostbusters didn’t have more sequels right after the original.

Jason remembered a funny moment when he asked Ivan about the Ghostbusters car in Ghostbusters 2—the one with the “2” in the logo. Ivan simply shrugged and said it was probably a mistake, showing how little he cared about the details of sequels compared to telling a good story.

In the end, Jason’s approach to Afterlife was deeply influenced by his family connections and his father’s legacy, with a focus on creating something emotionally impactful rather than just following a formula for sequels.

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