Melissa McCarthy Says That If the ‘Ghostbusters’ Remake Ruined Your Childhood Then You Must Have Had a ‘Sh*tty Childhood’
Discourse surrounding the female-led 2016 Ghostbusters remake, not unlike Vigo the Carpathian and whatever the hell Slimer is, just won’t die.
Earlier this year its director, Paul Feig, made headlines for suggesting that “so many” of the film’s critics were “Trump supporters,” and original Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd sang the remake’s praises while also bemoaning the high budget. He was right, of course, but nobody wants a lesson in cinematic restraint from the producer of Blues Brothers 2000.
One of the movie’s stars, Melissa McCarthy, just weighed in on the eight-year-old controversy, and seemingly has zero fucks left to give.
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Back when the movie came out, McCarthy was pretty diplomatic when discussing the online backlash, chalking it all up to a “tiny” minority of fans who happened to be “very loud” on the internet.
In retrospect, it’s amazing how restrained the entire Ghostbusters crew was on this subject, considering just how horrific things immediately became. In addition to the racist and misogynistic online harassment that occurred when the movie came out, back when the cast visited the children’s wing of a nearby hospital during filming, the hospital was flooded with hateful messages.
Imagine shitting on medical staff and literal sick children because you think that women shouldn’t be allowed to work in a fictional profession made up by the Coneheads guy.
McCarthy was this week’s guest on Dana Carvey and David Spade’s Fly on the Wall podcast, and since the SNL duo’s interviewing style tends to involve cycling through the most famous entries on their guests’ IMDb pages, naturally Ghostbusters was brought up. “It became controversial because it was women doing Ghostbusters. What is that?” Carvey questioned.
“I mean it’s just too stupid,” McCarthy candidly responded. “People were like, ‘You’re ruining my childhood!’ And I’m like, from the sound of you, I think you had a pretty shitty childhood.”
“I found it funny and, like, really stupid,” the Bridesmaids star continued. “I was just like, ‘Then don’t go see it.’ But ruining your childhood? You seem pretty banged up already.”
McCarthy did admit that the movie wasn’t perfect, mainly because the Ghostbusters branding came with a lot of studio scrutiny. “Instead of us just running off and doing what we do, there were a lot of cooks in that kitchen. And that just never is good for comedy,” she revealed, adding that “everybody wanted a different thing. So you’re like, ‘Why don’t you just let funny people and Paul Feig kind of do their thing, it’s been working okay.’”
Calling the process “so uncomfortable,” McCarthy explained that the notes process is “especially” bad when “somebody who’s super not funny is like, ‘Here’s what’s a better idea.’ And you’re like, ‘I’m telling you from the bottom of my heart it’s not a better idea.’”
While it wasn’t a masterpiece, Ghostbusters was still a pretty funny movie that in no way retroactively spoiled the lives of America’s youth circa 1984.
