35 years ago, Ivan Reitman’s iconic fantasy comedy Ghostbusters, made its debut in theatres. Released on June 5, 1984, Ghostbusters, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis, became an instant success, grossing over $295 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing comedy of its time.
Since then, the Ghostbusters franchise has gone on to produce a sequel in 1989, an awesome TV series, various comic books, and video games, and a less than popular all-female reboot film in 2016. A new Ghostbusters film, directed by Jason Reitman, is currently in development and scheduled to release in the July 2020.
In celebration of Ghostbusters’ 35th anniversary, here are 18 things you probably didn’t know about the original Ghostbusters film.
18. Sigourney Weaver’s Transformative Audition
A few years after her iconic portrayal of as Ripley in Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), Sigourney Weaver had been eagerly wanting to do a comedy so the actress decided to audition for the role of Venkman’s love interest, Dana Barrett, in Ivan Reitman’s 1984 fantasy comedy Ghostbusters. As the story goes, rather give a traditional audition, the “Sci-Fi Queen” opted to do a wordless scene that involved her transforming into one of Gozer’s monstrous “Terror Dogs.”
During a conversation with Vanity Fair in 2014, Weaver recalled her unforgettable audition for Ghostbuster director Ivan Reitman, “I remember starting to growl and bark and gnaw on the cushions and jump around. Ivan cut the tape and said ‘Don’t ever do that again.’”
Source: AP Photo/Matt Sayles