Leslie Jones’ Ghostbusters Role Originally Written For Melissa McCarthy

Since the trailer for the upcoming ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot came online, opinion has been very divided as to whether director Paul Feig’s all-female take on the supernatural comedy classic will do justice to the original.

One element which has been met with particular criticism was the casting of Leslie Jones as a streetwise non-scientist, which some have complained adheres to an anti-intellectual african-American stereotype.

However, this was never their intention of Feig or co-writer Kate Dippold - as Jones’ role of Patty was actually written with Melissa McCarthy in mind.

Feig explains to Empire, “when Katie and I wrote the script, we had written the role with Melissa in mind, but then I thought I’ve seen Melissa play a brash, larger than life character. She’s done it in my movies before!”

As such, McCarthy (one of Feig’s most frequent collaborators, starring in ‘Bridesmaids,’ ‘The Heat’ and ‘Spy’) was instead assigned the more intellectual role of Abby Yates, and ‘Saturday Night Live’ star Jones landed Patty instead.

Of Jones, Feig remarks, “She’s one of my favourite people on the planet. I don’t normally like comedy that’s big and loud, but she is able to pull that off in a way that feels real and it’s her.

“And when I make a movie, I want to find the funniest people I know and once I know what’s the funniest thing about them I want that to be the thing that I put on screen and let shine.

“This is the role that Leslie can shine comedically in. If you’ve ever seen her do stand-up, it’s just who she is. I wanted to unleash Leslie on the public in the same way we unleashed Melissa on the public in ‘Bridesmaids,’ with a very showy role.”

Jones, for her part, has already defended the character on the grounds that there’s no shame in being an average person, telling Twitter followers, “Regular People save the world everyday so if I’m the stereotype!! Then so be it!!”, before more pointedely declaring, “IT’S NOT A MAN, WOMAN, RACE, CLASS THANG! IT’S A GHOSTBUSTER THANG!”

‘Ghostbusters’ opens in July.

Picture Credit: Sony

Read More:
- Why Jennifer Lawrence Couldn’t Join Ghostbusters
- Ghostbusters Not A Sequel, Says Director
- Leslie Jones Defends Stereotyping