Columbia Pictures(LOS ANGELES) — If you’re looking to reunite the cast of a beloved classic film, Josh Gad knows who to call.
On Monday, the 39-year-old actor released the next episode of his socially distanced series Reunited Apart, which celebrated Ghostbusters.
Joining in on the Zoom-like virtual conference were the original main cast Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts. Gad also managed to rope in the movie’s director Ivan Reitman.
There was also a cameo made by Ray Parker Jr., who composed the famous “Ghostbusters” theme song.
The cast reminisced about how they became involved in the 1984 project, but the best audition story came from Weaver, who really threw herself into the scene where her character is turned into a dog.
“How could I forget it?” She laughed. “I kept going… howling and growling and eating cushions.”
Another profound story came from Reitman, who spoke about how the studio gave him only 13 months to complete the film. “I did this five minute pitch [to the movie executives] and they said ‘We’re in as long as you have the movie out by June 8.”
Making that deadline was an impressive feat considering the amount of special effects, puppetry and slime that went into making the movie. Also, as Aykroyd revealed, a healthy serving of improvised dialogue went into the script.
“80 percent was improv,” the actor revealed. “The rest was just structure and exposition.”
Reitman also revealed that Rick Moranis’s role of Louis Tully was originally offered to John Candy, who completely misinterpreted the character and botched the entire audition.
The cast also shared stories honoring the late Harold Ramis, who co-wrote and starred in the movie.
Monday’s episode benefitted the charity EJI.Org, and has raised over $8,500 as of early Tuesday.
By Megan Stone
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