GHOSTBUSTERS Director Paul Feig Strikes Back at The "Assholes" of Geek Culture
Update: Feig took to Twitter to clarify the sketchy way this interview went down. Read his comment, and then the original article below.
Ever since it was announced that the Ghostbusters reboot would be filled with a cast of women, the worst corners of the internet have come to the forefront to trash not only the idea of the movie, but personally attack everyone involved, from stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon to director Paul Feig. As you might expect, Feig has not taken these attacks lightly, responding to a bunch of jackasses on Twitter a few months ago and now telling the New York Daily News:
"Geek culture is home to some of the biggest assholes I've ever met in my life. Especially after being attacked by them for months because of this 'Ghostbusters' project...
I don't care what shape or size or color or anything [the actresses] are. I live or die on what things are funny and whether or not people will be entertained by them...
(Melissa McCarthy) is just this hilarious woman who is so funny. I don't care WHAT she looks like. As long as she's funny and is a professional. She's hilarious."
I want his movie to be great, but I have to admit I wasn't impressed by the film's first trailer (McCarthy herself was confused by it). But the people Feig is criticizing here are the ones that have been hating on this project months before the trailer even debuted, and he's hit the nail on the head about a certain vocal set of fandom that thinks it's acceptable to hurl personal insults at people who are just making a movie. If his Ghostbusters ends up being the worst movie of the year, that would be unfortunate, but also not the point. No one is taking away your DVD of the original movie. No one is coming to crap on your childhood memories of loving the first film. Is it too much to ask for people to just act like civilized human beings when a project comes out that they aren't excited about?