Paul Feig talks about his plans for Ghostbusters 3

Paul Feig has a big task on his plate: rebooting Ghostbusters. While the female-led cast is currently in pre-producton, the director spoke to Empire on their podcast about his plans for the project. He reveals the reasons behind his decision on rebooting the franchise, as opposed to doing a direct sequel, and his excitement – and other people’s perceptions – about the upcoming movie:

‘Those four ladies I have starring in it are so funny and that’s half the battle. I’m going to battle with the best army I have. My whole crew from all my other movies have come aboard, and some great special effects people have come aboard – I have never really done this level of effects before – and I’m excited! … It’s always a risk, but every movie you make is a risk. This one just happens to be one that’s toying with everyone’s childhoods! … A lot of people are mad because it’s a reboot. But I don’t know how to do it any other way, because it’s been 25 years since the last one. Harold has gone, Bill doesn’t want to do it, and I love Dan and Ernie, but people had written those scripts and they were fine, but it felt sweaty to me, it felt like a wheel was off the cart. I thought, “Why don’t we go into this and reinvent it so we can go into a world that doesn’t have ghosts?” … I love origin stories. I want to see them come up with the tech. I want to see them seeing a ghost for the first time, as opposed to “Oh yeah, all those years ago there was a ghost attack on New York…” Just for me it was hard.’

Ghosbusters will star Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, and Leslie Jones, and will be released on July 22, 2016.