Femme GHOSTBUSTERS 3 Moves Forward

The on-again, off-again Ghostbusters project is on again. This time we get word via Deadline, that Paul Feig and Katie Dippold (The Heat) will be working up a script that features a female team of Ghostbusters.

Feig, who also delivered Bridesmaids, has proven he has the comedy chops to go along with strong female lead characters, but seems is now starting from scratch on the script. Does this mean the years of work by Dan Ackroyd are for naught? Too early to tell.

One thing that’s a safe bet is that Bill Murray still won’t be involved, although his suggestions for a cast several weeks ago seem to have fueled speculation that a gender-bent team would be a viable alternative. His choices? Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Emma Stone, and Linda Cardellini.

The idea of more female characters is not a new one. Ivan Reitman, back when he was strongly connected to the project, had told HuffPo Live that the plan for Ghostbusters 3 had always included more female involvement. At one point, rumor was that Stone had already been approached, and that the story centered around four Columbia University students who went off ghost-hunting.

Reitman was attached to direct and produce the project until the death of Harold Ramis took the wind out of the sails for the production. Reitman was still on board to produce, but he stepped back from directing, saying that his heart just wasn’t in it anymore.

From the sounds of it, the project is back to square one. So it’s anybody’s guess what the story will be. And if history is a good teacher it’s also anybody’s guess when the movie will actually get made.