PAULGIVINGIT HISBUSTSHOT
He’s a star of the Marvel universe 2021 Sexiest as Ant-Man, Man Alive, and been named now he’s reviving People’s a movie classic
HOLLYWOOD actor Paul Rudd claims he ain’t afraid of no Ghostbusters backlash.
The 52-year-old Ant-Man stars in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the new direct sequel to the two Ghostbusters movies in the 80s.
He said: “I loved the original movie. Growing up, it was huge. As a Ghostbusters fan, I can say that it’s really exciting and that everyone it going to love it.
“It pays homage to the original Ghostbusters, it also tells a new story with some great action and fantastic new characters and it very much exists in that Ghostbusters world we all love.”
The original in 1984 was a huge phenomenon. Starring Bill Murray, Dan Akyroyd and Harold Ramis as a trio of parasychologists in New York battling a range of supernatural entities, it became the highest grossing comedy ever at the time as well as spawning the theme tune by Ray Parker Jr, a second film, an animated series, video games and comic books.
Wisely the new film, out next Thursday in cinemas, ignores the allgirl 2016 reboot starring Melissa McCarthy and sets up the new story 30 years after the 1989 second movie.
It follows the daughter and grandkids of Egon, played by Harold Ramis, who died in 2014. Carrie Coon plays Egon’s hard-up daughter Callie who has to move to her late father’s decaying farmhouse in Summerville, Oklahoma with her children Phoebe, played by Mckenna Grace and Trevor, played by Stranger Things’ star Finn Wolfhard.
Finn didn’t think he’d get the part because his character Mike in Stranger Things had dressed up as a Ghostbuster in the show’s second series.
Long-time fans of Ghostbusters will be heartened that the stars of the original movie including Bill, Dan, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts are in the new movie.
As well as having the originals onboard Paul reckons the new film will be a success because it’s been written and directed by Jason Reitman, whose dad Ivan directed and produced the first two films.
On a personal note Paul couldn’t believe he was in Ghostbusters and admitted: “I was kinda giddy all the way through.”
If you’ve watched the trailer you’ll have also seen that the iconic Stay Puft Marshmallow man makes a return as well – this time in miniature form.
Paul said: “It was pretty funny because when we were filming it, there’s just a bag of marshmallows with a prop guy with a pencil underneath the bag, trying to make it look like it’s moving.
“But it was really cool to be in a scene with Stay Puft marshmallow men, knowing that this was going to be in a Ghostbusters movie. I was filming it thinking, ‘Oh, this is going to be something people will really get a kick out of.’ It’s so nostalgic yet there is this new spin on it. It’s really fun.”
What would the young Paul be feeling if he had known back in the 80s he’d be in a Ghostbusters movie.
He laughed: “I would have freaked out if I had somehow learned I was going to be in a movie at all, let alone with these guys in this movie. It would have been too much to even process when I was a kid, it still is!”
Paul started out in comedies like Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, but since playing Ant-Man in 2015 and appearing in Marvel movies like Avengers: Endgame he’s become big box office and this week was announced as People’s 2021 Sexiest Man Alive.
The actor knows he’s going to be ribbed mercilessly by his pals for the accolade and insisted he’s happiest at home with his wife of 18 years Julie, 53, and kids Jack, 17, and Darby, 12. When his wife woke up to find out she was married to the sexiest man in the world Paul revealed: “She was stupefied. “But you know she was very sweet about it. After some giggling and shock, she said ‘Oh, they got it right.’ And that was very sweet. She was probably not telling the truth, but what’s she going to say?” Paul has gone from a jobbing comedy actor to one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. This year he’s been at Pinewood Studios filming his third Ant-Man movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. He said: “With something like this, it’s inevitable that at certain moments, like when you are sitting there on set, you are like, ‘Oh my God, there’s a proton pack! There’s a ghost trap!’ “Or with Marvel it’s, ‘There’s Captain America’s shield, the actual one!’ When you are surrounded by this stuff, it’s impossible not to get a little caught up in it all and to get excited.” Ghostbusters:Afterlife is in cinemas from Thursday, November 18.