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Melissa McCarthy: We could not wait to get slimed

Updated on: 29 July,2016 08:10 AM IST  | 
Shaheen Parkar |

Melissa McCarthy and director Paul Feig on rebooting a classic horror comedy 'Ghostbusters' for the new generation. A tete-a-tete with them during the film's promotional campaign in Singapore

Melissa McCarthy: We could not wait to get slimed

Who you gonna call? The song rings yet again, three decades later, in the reboot of classic horror-comedy, 'Ghostbusters'. Filmmaker Paul Feig revisits Ivan Reitman's 1984 film (which had a sequel in 1989) with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth headlining the cast.


Melissa McCarthy
Melissa McCarthy


Apart from the thrills and spills, 'Ghostbusters' has also been reloaded with lots of special effects. A tete-a-tete with director Paul Feig and actress Melissa McCarthy during the film's promotional campaign in Singapore:


Q. The film's highlights are the green slime-spewing creatures. Was battling them a task?
Melissa: For me, it was like... it is finally happening. I am going to get slimed. Yay!
Paul: Everyone on the set was eager to get drenched in it.
Melissa: Yes, we could not wait to get slimed.
Paul: Till the truth dawned.
Melissa: I realised you could not wash it off. When we washed with water, it reactivated. It doubled. There was no way we could be out of it. I would be washing and there would be more and more suds. We needed a lot of towels to dry it up first and then wash it off. We would be in that slime all day. But then Paul would also be doused in it, even when he was wearing his best suit on set.
Paul: As a director, I feel I should not make actors do what I would not do. I will do the stunt, but this is the one time I told the cast, "You're on your own."

Q.You have loaded the reboot with more action and special effects.
Paul: As I was making the film for a new generation, I needed to not only make it funny, but also incorporate special effects. When I directed Spy (2015), it was fun doing the stunts. In the original, it was so cool to see them shoot the proton guns, but three decades later, you need to add more to that. The viewers have changed and seen a lot more.
Melissa: I am game for action any time. I don't have any apprehensions as it is fun seeing yourself doing some incredible stuff on screen.

Paul Feig
Paul Feig

Q. What were the apprehensions while revisiting a classic?
Paul: It is natural to be nervous as you are remaking a classic. But you have to watch the film and base it on its own merits. When Katie Dippold, (who co-wrote the film with me) and I thought about revisiting it, we just went with the thought that if we didn't somebody else would. I remember seeing the movie on the opening night when I was in film school.
Melissa: The reboot has been made by people who love the original movie. We are such fanatics.

Q.The two of you share a wonderful working relationship.
Melissa: When Paul and I talk, others gape at us. They wonder if we are two crazy people. We don't speak in complete sentences. Our conversations are peppered with, "What, no, maybe, don't, know, I won't." To onlookers we make no sense, but I know and he knows what we are trying to say.

Q.On working with the hottie Chris Hemsworth.
Paul: He was one of the best improvisers I have ever worked with.
Melissa: It's like this handsome guy walks in and he tells a joke. He's not only a looker but incredibly funny as well.

Q. Comedies seem to be high on your agenda.
Paul: That's the only reason Melissa and I make movies. We only want to entertain the audience. We want people to have fun.
Melissa: Our only agenda is to make people laugh.

Q. In the original it was an all-male Ghostbusters. In this one you have an all-female team.
Paul: I love working with funny women. When I was going to make this movie, I asked myself why did the original movie work so well? It worked because of the cast. Ghostbusters, at that time, had the funniest people working. I needed to create that aura again. So I took the funniest women in the planet to make the reboot. I love Melissa's style of comedy, first of all, Melissa can kind of do anything. Look at our movies together. She's played brash, in your face, you know, The Heat, Bridesmaids. But then in Spy it was fun to have this meek person who comes out of her shell.
Melissa: Paul assembles a cast that always seems to work. And it's always out-of-the-box. He doesn't do that thing of, "You're this type." "You're that type." He is always taking people that most people say, "Well, they can't do that. That's not what they do." All of us had such different energies and different styles on set, but the real trick is that Paul knows that when we come together, they all work so well together.

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