It looks like Paul Feig’s all-female Ghostbusters reboot has its cast. The director took to Twitter to make the announcement.
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) January 27, 2015
It’s not a bad cast by any definition, in fact it’s a pretty damn good one. And, like the original, it draws heavily from sketch players.
What’s interesting is how (even if it’s not a direct remake) it’s still incredibly easy to map the new faces onto the old roles. Melissa McCarthy tends to play goofy, optimistic characters – she’s likely filling Dan Aykroyd’s role. Leslie Jones is probably taking Ernie Hudson’s spot, not because of that reason, jerk, but because she’s so good as the frustrated straight(wo)man. Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig could each go either way with Ramis and Murray’s roles, as both fit them equally well. But my money’s on McKinnon as not-Egon and Wiig as not-Venkman. Wiig’s higher profile makes her the more obvious choice for the ostensible “lead.”
Even the other rumored cast match up pretty well. Workaholics‘ Jillian Bell would make a fine replacement for William Atherton’s Walter Peck. But is SNL‘s Cecily Strong playing a Louis Tully or a Janine Melnitz? I’m thinking they’ll use her in the Louis role and find a guy for Janine’s desk, you know, to keep the Earth-11 thing going.
