Ghostbusters director Paul Feig has done a masterful job of dispensing details about the upcoming reboot of the supernatural comedy franchise at a steady pace, mostly through social media and usually in response to questions from fans. After revealing the team’s gear and a full cast photo in previous updates, the Bridesmaids filmmaker recently offered up the official names of the lead characters in the film, providing one more piece of the ghost-busting puzzle.
After a fan asked Feig for the names of the characters played by Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, and Leslie Jones, the director replied (via Twitter) with official confirmation of the characters each actress will play in the film.
https://twitter.com/paulfeig/status/622543519752790016
According to Feig, Wiig will play a character named “Erin Gilbert,” Jones will play “Patty Tolan,” McCarthy will play “Abby Yates,” and McKinnon will play “Jillian Holtzmann.”
While it doesn’t offer any real context for their roles on the team, the update does seem to confirm that the characters’ names won’t provide any direct connection to the original team from the 1984 film. Despite the film being a total reboot of the franchise that won’t acknowledge the events of the first Ghostbusters or its 1989 sequel, rumors have suggested that there would be some sort of call-out to the 1984 movie beyond the recently confirmed cameo from original Ghostbusters co-writer and actor Dan Aykroyd. (Aykroyd is also a producer on the reboot.)
Along with the quartet of actresses playing a team of paranormal exterminators, the Ghostbusters reboot also stars Chris Hemsworth as the team’s receptionist, Andy Garcia as the Mayor of New York City, Neil Casey as the film’s unidentified villain, and Michael K. Williams and Matt Walsh as characters named “Hawkins” and “Rourke,” respectively. NY1 news anchor Pat Kiernan will also appear in the film as … wait for it … a New York City news anchor.
The script for the Ghostbusters reboot was co-written by Feig and Katie Dippold, and the the film is currently shooting in New York City and Boston. The Ghostbusters reboot is scheduled to hit theaters July 22, 2016.
