by Justin Cook
The cast of director Paul Feig’s upcoming Ghostbusters reboot film has been revealed. Negotiations are ongoing, but it looks like the film will star Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon.
While it is hardly a surprise that Wiig and McCarthy joined the film, as McCarthy was already in early talks to join and both women frequently collaborate with Feig, they are both welcome additions to the cast. Both women have shown off their comedic chops in multiple projects in recent years. Wiig gained fame from Saturday Night Live, on which she expertly played a large variety of characters. In 2011, the actress starred in the smash hit comedy Bridesmaids and began turning in impressive performances in films such as The Skeleton Twins and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.
McCarthy, on the other hand, also starred in Bridesmaids, for which she even received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Soon after McCarthy became a comedy icon with such films as Identity Thief, Tammy and The Heat. Ghostbusters will mark the fourth time McCarthy has worked with Feig, as Feig directed Bridesmaids, The Heat and an upcoming 2015 film called Spy.
McKinnon and Jones are more unexpected additions to the cast. Both are currently on Saturday Night Live, with McKinnon as a regular and Jones as a featured actor. McKinnon was even nominated for an Emmy for her work on the show last year. She joined the show in 2012, while Jones joined in 2014. Jones also starred in Chris Rock’s Top Five, one of the best-reviewed comedies of last year.
Feig became attached to the project ever since Ivan Reitman dropped out of the film as director. While out of the original 1984 Ghostbusters cast, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Harold Ramis were ready to return for the film, Bill Murray refused. Talks of having the original cast members come back for another film ended after Ramis’ death just last year. The eventual result was Feig being hired to reboot the series.
The film will release on July 22, 2016 according to Feig.
Source: Variety
