‘Ghostbusters’ Reboot Haters Are Trump Supporters, Judd Apatow Claims
Critics of the new Ghostbusters movie are probably Donald Trump supporters, according to Judd Apataow.
Apatow’s fellow director and colleague, Paul Feig, helmed the upcoming Ghostbusters sequel for Sony Pictures which features an all-female cast that officially hits the screens on July 15.
According to the Guardian, the trailer (embedded below) for the much-hyped Ghostbusters reboot, a movie that reportedly cost $150 million to make, is the most disliked in YouTube history. As of this writing, the trailer has received nearly 870,000 dislikes vs. about 250,000 likes, which is hardly a ringing endorsement.
The film stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon.
“Since its inception, Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters…has proven unexpectedly divisive online. Some have objected to the 1984 original being remade at all, while others have voiced criticisms of the female-led cast that have been called sexist,” AP explained.
Judd Apatow: #Ghostbusters haters are @realDonaldTrump supporters https://t.co/kyOeXutkl1 pic.twitter.com/4wXMpAxErG
— Variety (@Variety) June 5, 2016
“Critics have taken umbrage with everything from remaking the 1984 original (considered a classic) with a female cast to the fact that star Leslie Jones — the only African-American lead actress in the film — portrays the only Ghostbuster who is not a scientist,” CNN added along similar lines.
In an interview with Uproxx, Ghostbusters booster Apatow apparently felt the need to bring politics into the discussion when asked for his opinion about how the movie is being received on the web in its pre-release stage.
“I would assume there’s a very large crossover of people who are doubtful Ghostbusters will be great and people excited about the Donald Trump candidacy. I would assume they are the exact same people. That movie is made by the great Paul Feig and stars the funniest people on Earth, so I couldn’t be more excited. I think people have paid too much attention to just some angry trolls. And it will be judged on its own greatness. I don’t think anything really matters the way you think it does. The movie comes out, and it will be great, and people will just be happy to have it. It’s not like anybody really cares about a couple of idiots who hold onto the idea that things never evolve. I always think, you know, we have our past and if you can come up with a new, cool way to do something, then that’s exciting and hopefully it will make a lot of people happy.”
Judd Apatow: Ghostbusters haters are probably Trump supporters https://t.co/tQiAq9ye01
— Guardian US (@GuardianUS) June 3, 2016
Although Republican bashing is the direct opposite of edgy in liberal Hollywood, Apatow may have been just trolling the trolls with his remarks as a way to generate buzz for the apparently troubled run-up to film’s opening. It might backfire, however, by alienating a large segment of potential ticket buyers.
The filmmaker is perhaps best known for comedies such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Trainwreck.
Back in July, one month into the New York real estate mogul’s presidential campaign, Judd Apatow likened Donald Trump to “the crazy girl on The Bachelor that you don’t want to get kicked off too early because they’re fun to watch, but you pray that they will not win.”
Director Feig, who comes across as a nice guy when he appears on AMC’s Talking Dead, the recap show that airs after The Walking Dead, called the negative reaction to the film, particularly as it related to the all-female cast, “vile misogynist s**t.” He also added that “Some of it is that people don’t want an old property touched — I’m sympathetic to that. But the ones who are hating it because it’s about women? That’s just a non-starter.”
Dan Aykroyd, one of the stars of the original, took to social media after attending a private Ghostbusters screening and praised the acting as brilliant and claimed that new installment was better than the first two films in the franchise.
As part of its marketing efforts, Sony Pictures has designated Wednesday, June 8, as Ghostbusters Day in an attempt to generate some positive feedback and anticipation for the soon-to-be-released reboot.
[Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP]
