It’s become apparent that Paul Feig, the director of the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot, isn’t afraid to stray from the original franchise that gave us a group of misfit paranormal investigators who managed to save the world not once, but twice over a pair of blockbuster films. Along with replacing the previous cast of male leads with some of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading ladies, Feig now promises a “scarier” film than the 1984 supernatural comedy.
“I want ours to be scarier than the original, to be quite honest,” Feig told Empire magazine (via an interview transcribed by ComicBookMovie.com). “[Screenwriter] Katie Dipold and I are so focused on wanting to do scary comedy. We don’t want to hold back.”
Along with insisting that the reboot would pack in more scares, Feig also confirmed that it will buck the trend of his previous, “R”-rated comedy projects (Bridesmaids and The Heat, for example) and go for a “PG-13” rating.
“The reason I do a lot of ‘R’-rated comedies is that you want a movie to feel honest,” he explained. “But the Ghostbusters world doesn’t need that level of swearing. We’ll have to be ‘PG-13’ with this one. I would like to make it ‘R’-Rated, but I won’t. You want the biggest number of people to watch it and not be put off by it.”
Feig also insisted that no one has been cast in the film at this point, despite rumors to the contrary. He also had a response for some of the criticism he’s received regarding his decision to go with an all-female cast.
“I guess I can see the cynics’ view of it, but for me I just love working with funny women,” he said. “People said, ‘Why don’t you do a mix?’ I’m just more interested in the idea of lady Ghostbusters. It’s the way my brain works.”
