IESB: When you hear all the rumors about the possibility of a Ghostbusters 3 for all these years, is that something you hope will eventually happen, or have you just become indifferent about it because you’ve been waiting for so long?

Ernie: We did the first Ghostbusters, and that was really trying for me, in a lot of ways. I worked really hard on the movie for four months, and then the movie came out and was very successful, but work didn’t necessarily come for me, as a result of it. And then, it took five years to get the second one ready, and that was a challenge, too. Now, it’s been 20 years since the second one.

I knew Bill Murray really loved the franchise, but he was the hold-out. The discussion with him has always been that he really wants to do something exceptional. We tapped into something that was really creative and different with the first one, so you want to be able to bring that challenge to it. The whole economic thing becomes an excuse to do nothing, so the tendency with studios is, “Okay, let’s just do something.” And then, because we have the audience out there, even if we do something bad, by the time they realize it’s bad, we’ll have made the money. But, I know that’s not what Bill Murray wants to do, and that’s certainly not something I want to do.

It’s a real catch-22 because you really would love to do another one, since the fans have been asking for it, but you also want to be able to stand by the work that you do. I’m really happy to have been a part of the movie. A lot of actors work for years and never find [something that special]. Ghostbusters is nice to have in my filmography. Wherever I go, people have seen the movie and love it, so that’s really nice.

IESB: So, you’d be happy to return for another film, if they get a script together?

Ernie: I would love to do the movie, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that I’d love to get paid. So, when Bill Murray says, “I only want to do it if it’s something really extraordinary that we can really commit to,” it’s a little bit different than my thing. I’m saying that I only want to do the movie for that reason, unless they pay me a lot of money. I’m probably more conscious of that. But, the fans are there. Wherever I go, people are always asking about it. I think the studio wants to do it, but hopefully the script will be really good.

Harold Ramis is taking the lead in it, from what I’ve been reading. I hear about it like the fans do. I saw Harold at the opening of his film Year One in New York, so I know that he’s been putting together a script that everyone will be happy with. I talked to Bill recently, and I know that Danny [Aykroyd] has been wanting to do it since the day we finished the second one. We’re all up for it. It just has to be something we can be proud of and stand by. I’d love for it to happen. I think it would be very, very cool. But, it really needs to be something that makes sense. I don’t want to just do a cameo. If we’re going to do it, I want to be involved.

IESB: Did you enjoy returning to the character for the recent video game?

Ernie: I really was very happy with the game because the characters were very much there. My character was totally involved. It was a lot of fun to do the voice-over, and having all the guys back to do it was really cool. So, I’m hoping the movie happens, but I have not heard from Ivan Reitman or the studio, or anybody who signs checks. Until that happens, it’s still just speculation. They also came out with a whole new series of toys. Wherever I travel, or when I was doing the play, people show up with the toys for me to sign.

How does Egon live in 2012, Ramis shares this thoughts,

I had two initial first instincts. One was that Egon had become a shaved head Buddhist monk. That is not going to happen. The thing that I pitched for my character is that he’s been living in Geneva, and he works for the Institute of Imaginary Science. The work we are doing doesn’t require any conceptual, intellectual, special, or mathematical models for what we are doing. Even we don’t know what we are doing. It’s that theoretical.

And on the difficulties of writing the sequel,

I think we are just going to try and make a good movie. The intention of a sequel is not to give an audience more of what they didn’t get enough of the first time. It’s to give the audience something that is new. We want them to feel that they are having a new experience of some kind. That becomes a tightrope. Yeah, we definitely are introducing new Ghostbusters. That much is for sure. And there will be inter-dimensional creatures visiting New York. And we will deal with it. That’s all I am allowed to say at this point.

Will Slimer be making a cameo in the upcoming Ghostbusters movie?
I’m going to see the script in the next few hours, I’m about to read the third script, I’ve been submitted it and we’ll see what happens.

“I don’t put not making the third movie on Billy. We can’t do that. I’ve been very busy. Harold’s been busy, Ivan’s been busy. And a third script really didn’t coalesce properly. And Billy, you can’t blame an artist for not wanting to do the same thing again. He did two of them, for God’s sake. Although I’m the biggest cheerleader as the originator of the concept but I’ve never begrudged Billy not doing a third movie. I never said he held it up or that he refused. Hey, listen, he’s an artist. You can’t force somebody into it. I’m sorry he never read my third draft because I thought it was pretty good but, look, now we’re at a point that there’s a story that he can accept and that’s going to work, and I think we’re going to be in production fairly soon. We could be in production by winter.”

Storyline — Akroyd says they are aiming for a five member ‘core’ crew, with more than one female. Some of his choices are Alyssa Milano and Eliza Dushku — neither of which have been cast. Sigourney Weaver is now on board.

“There will be a whole new generation that has to be trained, and that whole new generation will be led by an individual who you’ll all love when you meet him but I’m not going to tell you anything yet,” teased Aykroyd. “They’ll be lots of cadets, boys and girls, who’ll be learning how to use the psychotron, the accelerators and all the new stuff, the neuron splitter, which is going to be the interplaner, interceptor and all these great tools that they’re going to have, to flip from dimension to dimension.”

The word, ‘Cadet’ implies there may be some sort of ghost and paranormal academy. And using the word ‘lots’ suggests there will be a large group of Ghostbusters.

Time to throw an oddball out there, with mere speculation you can see how this might spread out to form a number of Ghostbuster franchises across the US, tackling the paranormal everywhere, rather than just NY.

An early summer 2011 release could put filming approximately a year from now. This announcement shows us that Sony are taking GB3 very seriously.

Via /Film