'Ghostbusters' Reboot Plot Details Revealed By Director Paul Feig; New Film To Be An Origin Story

Despite what some critics are saying, director Paul Feig couldn’t be more excited to get his all-female “Ghostbusters” reboot off the ground. Now, he’s revealing a bit about how this project came together and why he finally agreed to take on the task.

It was announced in Jan. 2014 that the new team of ghost-fighting scientists would consist of comedy actresses Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon and Melissa McCarthy. Feig revealed that he’ll be directing and co-writing the film with “The Heat” screenwriter Katie Dippold. While the cast has both comedy nerds and “Ghostbusters” nerds excited, precious little was known about the plot of the film, until now. The 52-year-old comedy director revealed what these women will be tackling in this fresh take on the 1980s hit. While he was approached for a more conventional “Ghostbusters” sequel, he said he turned that job down several times before he had the idea for a reboot.

“I thought I'd rather do it as a reboot, so I wasn't tied to the old movies,” he told AlloCine in the video below. “The old movies are so good, I didn't want to mess with them. I also want to see the beginnings of this group. I want to see people seeing ghosts for the first time, and how they are going to fight them for the first time, how they develop their technology.”

If Feig’s comments can be taken at face value, it looks like the new “Ghostbusters” team will be even greener than audiences originally found original cast members Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. In the first movie, the team had been hunting ghosts for a while before the opening credits rolled. While they had their first hilarious encounter in a library, fans were mostly left out of the process of developing the technology to capture and contain these specters. Not to mention the decision to go into the ghost busting business. In other words, it seems like Feig is hoping to expand on the “Ghostbusters” origin story in the 2017 remake. While it’s not exactly a plot synopsis, it’s the first clue about the remake’s story that’s been shared with the public thus far.

Fans have been clamoring for something new in the “Ghostbusters” canon for several years and Feig was apparently on many people’s short list to breathe new life into the franchise. However, as CinemaBlend notes, the comedy director didn’t know how to do any kind of conventional sequel like a “Ghostbusters 3.”

“It’s a great franchise, it’s a great idea…but if I was going to do it, how would I do it?” Feig said. “And I thought, well, if I could put four women in those key roles, that’s exciting to me. That I know how to do, and I know how to make that funny.”

Check out the video below to hear Feig tease plot details about the upcoming movie as well as respond to some of his critics that aren’t in favor of replacing the all-male cast with female actresses.