The upcoming reboot of the supernatural comedy “Ghostbusters” changed its lead characters into an all-female team, but the creators made sure to cast the actor who was considered as one of the ladies’ favorites as he even bagged the 2014 People’s magazine’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ title.
Paul Feig, the director and co-writer of the new “Ghostbusters” movie, tweeted in January that the film will have female ghost exterminators to substitute the original all-male characters in the 1984 film, which was composed of Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond ‘Ray’ Stantz and Dr. Egon Spengler.
In addition, instead of portraying parapsychologists, the 2016 reboot will feature unheralded book authors and an ordinary New York City subway worker. Nevertheless, Melissa McCarthy’s tweet on August 25 revealed that the lead characters were not the only ones replaced by a female team. The attached picture in the post showed that the “Ghostbusters” film also includes powerful women crew members.
The photograph in the tweet cemented the supernatural comedy movie’s support for girl power. The main actresses of the upcoming reboot, which includes McCarthy, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, and Kristen Wiig, can be seen in the picture posing with their lady writers, producers, and stunt doubles. Each of them is holding a sign of their respective roles in the “Ghostbusters” film due to be released to theaters in 2016.
Gender equality in the movie industry
It appears that McCarthy has a deeper reason why she posted the picture on social media. According to the annual “Celluloid Ceiling” report of San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, Hollywood is still far from reaching gender equality. The data gathered showed that the top 100 grossing movies of 2014 only had 30% speaking characters and 14% protagonists who are women.
On the other hand, the top 250 movies of 2014 hired a very small percentage of women for behind-the-camera jobs. The “Celluloid Ceiling” study further revealed that merely 17% of all cinematographers, editors, executive producers, producers, writers, and directors are ladies.
The information gathered by the report exposed the reality in the movie industry. It appears that the general entertainment industry including Hollywood is still a man’s world.
However, McCarthy is one of those women who wish to boost girl power in the man-filled film industry. The “Gilmore Girls” actress proved that she can do other things within the entertainment world. Aside from being an actress, McCarthy is also a producer, a fashion designer, a writer, and a comedian. Due to her influence and talent, she ranked number three in the recent Forbes’ list of top-earning actresses for the period from June 2014 to June 2015.
The ‘sexiest man alive’
Although the lead ghost exterminators of the upcoming “Ghostbusters” film are all female, the creators did not forget to include Chris Hemsworth, the ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ for 2014, in the cast.
For the reboot of the supernatural comedy movie, Hemsworth will play the role of Kevin, a receptionist. In the first “Ghostbusters” flick and in its 1989 sequel, Annie Potts of “Pretty in Pink” played as the receptionist Janine Melnitz.
At first, the director of the movie was mum on Hemsworth’s appearance in the film. But a controversial photo circulated on various film sites last week showing the Australian actor riding a motorbike and he was sporting the well-known “Ghostbusters” outfit.
Feig was upset about the leaked photo and he warned in a tweet those who illegally took the image without prior permission. Nevertheless, the picture confirmed the speculations that the “Thor” actor is indeed part of the upcoming “Ghostbusters” reboot movie.