Paul Feig looks back at the horrific backlash over his Ghostbusters reboot

It seems that the person most surprised about the reboot of ‘Ghostbusters’ last year was the movie’s own director Paul Feig.

Discussing the furore among fans during a talk session at the Tribeca Film Festival (via Den of Geek), he claims that the whole business caught him off guard.

“I was just coming out of film school in my early 20s when ‘Ghostbusters’ came out,” he said.

“We went to see it opening weekend. I thought it was hilarious and was amazing idea for a movie, but that was kind of it for me.

“I didn’t realise it was like religion for a generation of boys that came after me. It turned out it was the ultimate boys’ movie. For some weird reason, a lot of guys, it was their thing. I didn’t realise to them (it) was sacrilegious.”

Feig remade the movie casting an all-female crew instead, comprising Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones, to play the roles made famous by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson in the much-loved 1984 version.

He added: “Before Ghostbusters, I had this really lovely relationship with the internet.

“When that first volley of just terribleness came in, honestly it threw me off for a couple of years – I wasn’t used to it – where I could go back in a time machine now, I just would go, ‘don’t even read it, just put it away,’ and I never would have referenced it.

“That was the biggest mistake I made. A year in, I took on one of the trolls, and they can fire at you for a year. You dare say one thing back at them, and it’s all over. You’re a victim and you’re a monster.

“You go into it so pure of spirit. We’re so excited and we just want to make everybody happy, and it’s a very weird thing, but it toughens you up. I never wanted to be toughened up, so it’s kind of like ‘Goddammit’.”

Feig will be next up behind the director’s chair helming the sequel to cop comedy ‘The Heat’.

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