Ghostbusters Haunts Ernie Hudson

[Zeke]

Some of this stuff we already knew but it’s always interesting to hear it from the man himself:

From Entertainment Weekly:

On the film’s 30th anniversary, the 68-year-old actor writes about his bittersweet relationship with a beloved franchise.

I look back on Ghostbusters in a very fun way, but it’s got so many mixed feelings and emotions attached to it. When I originally got the script, the character of Winston was amazing and I thought it would be career-changing. The character came in right at the very beginning of the movie and had an elaborate background: he was an Air Force major something, a demolitions guy. It was great.

Now I’ve heard, over the years, that the part had been written for Eddie Murphy—all of which Ivan Reitman says is not true. But it was a bigger part, and Winston was there all the way through the movie. After a long audition process, I finally got the part and made the awful mistake of letting it be known that I really, really wanted it. In Hollywood in those days, you set your quote—so if anybody calls about wanting to work with you, they had to meet your quote. I had just worked with Columbia on Spacehunter, and my quote was pretty decent. For Ghostbusters, they came in at only half of my quote, because they said this role was going to make my career. I said to my agent, “I don’t care. Just take it, because I believe that.” So we go to New York and we rehearse for three weeks or whatever and I’m ready to roll.

The night before filming begins, however, I get this new script and it was shocking. The character was gone. Instead of coming in at the very beginning of the movie, like page 8, the character came in on page 68 after the Ghostbusters were established. His elaborate background was all gone, replaced by me walking in and saying, “If there’s a steady paycheck in it, I’ll believe anything you say.” So that was pretty devastating.

I’m panicked. I don’t sleep that night. It was like my worst nightmare is happening. The next morning, I rush to the set and plead my case. And Ivan basically says, “The studio felt that they had Bill Murray, so they wanted to give him more stuff to do.” I go, “Okay, I understand that, but can I even be there when they’re established?” And of course, he said no, there’s nothing to do about it. It was kind of awkward, and it became sort of the elephant in the room.

I see this differently now—and I don’t mean any kind of animosity or anything towards anyone, certainly not towards Ivan or the guys. I was a single dad, and we were struggling to kind of hold on and pay the rent. I still needed to do this job. 30 years later, I look back at the movie and it works very well the way it is. I think the character works with what he has to work with. But I’ve always felt like, “Man, if I could’ve played that original character…”

Winston wasn’t included in the movie poster or the trailer and all that stuff. I felt, had the original character been in play at the beginning, that would’ve been different because it would’ve clearly been four guys. It would’ve sent a signal to the studios and very likely impacted my career in a different way. I think the fans see the Ghostbusters as four characters. I do some of the conventions, and I’ve met thousands of people, and I deputize kids as Little Ghostbusters. And the question I always used to get was, “Where does Winston go?” That’s the thing with Winston: He will pop up and then disappear.

They used to like to say that Danny’s the heart of the Ghostbusters, Harold was the brain, Bill was the mouth, and Ernie was the soul. When I heard that quote, I was blown away. And then I saw them on the Tonight Show and there was no mention of the Soul. So Winston could always disappear.

Ernie-Hudson.jpg

People say, “Well, he’s sort of the Everyman, he’s kind of the guy who helps the audience understand.” I love the character and he’s got some great lines, but I felt the guy was just kind of there. I love the movie, I love the guys. I’m very thankful to Ivan for casting me. I’m very thankful that fans appreciate the Winston character. But it’s always been very frustrating—kind of a love/hate thing, I guess.

I credit Ghostbusters, actually, for lessons I learned—how you deal with stuff when it doesn’t work out the way you want and you still got to keep doing it, how you keep a career going when it doesn’t turn to be all these things you dreamed of doing. I’ve been blessed, and I don’t want to make it a negative. I’ve survived this 30 years because of what I learned on Ghostbusters; you learn to adjust. What I did was I turned to TV. I literally did a different television show almost every week, going from show to show. I was a single dad and I had to survive.

The sad part is the thing that I thought that Ghostbusters would do, which is really kickstart my career into high gear. It never really materialized. I’ve never been told that I’ve gotten a job because of Ghostbusters; I think there have been a few jobs that I’ve lost [because of it]. Since [the movie], I’ve been given and taken advantage of the opportunity to perform a myriad of challenging roles, so what am I complaining about?

Now 30 years later, seeing little kids with their Ghostbusters backpacks, seeing whole families dress up—the movie has a special place, and I’m very humbled and touched by it. I certainly am thankful to have been a part of it. I love being an actor. I still enjoy the process. I’m still hoping that I’m going to get that one great role that I thought I had in the original Ghostbusters. 30 years later, I’m still looking.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/11/05/ghostbusters-ernie-hudson/

Personally I don’t think he appreciate his place inthe movie enough. He says that he had “some great line”. IMO he had THE greatest line when he says to Ray “when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES!!”

[DRoomProductions]

Ernie is one of the most down-to-earth, humble actors I’ve ever met. I would be frustrated with the way things turned out too, but I doubt I would be as reserved about it. He’s a class act.

[joeghostbuster]

nice article.

[fritz]

And then to add insult to insult, they barely had him in the first third of the sequel either. There is just no really good reason to have left Winston out of so much of it, save for the fact he wasn’t in the first part of the first movie and they were set on regurgitating stuff from it.

It shows what a class act Mr. Hudson is that he’s not more bitter.

[Hijacker]

Ernie is a great guy. I’m very happy I was able to meet him at Wizard World in Richmond. Not enough positive things to say about him. It’s sad that he’s been shafted multiple times for parts. I asked him why he was only in one episode of Psych as Gus’ dad, and his explanation was a bit nauseating. I look forward to meeting him again, and I wish I could get him a gift of some kind without coming off extra fanboyish.

[Zeke]

@Hijacker

Ernie is a great guy. I’m very happy I was able to meet him at Wizard World in Richmond. Not enough positive things to say about him. It’s sad that he’s been shafted multiple times for parts. I asked him why he was only in one episode of Psych as Gus’ dad, and his explanation was a bit nauseating. I look forward to meeting him again, and I wish I could get him a gift of some kind without coming off extra fanboyish.

Including the time he auditioned for but wasn’t picked to voice his own character in the RGB cartoon. Talk about a kick in the teeth.

[pferreira1983]

Yeah I always felt Winston should have been included more on the promotional material for the movie when it came out. It’s a shame Ernie Hudson hasn’t been offered more work. Having said that at least he got the last line in the movie before the end credits. I suppose that’s something.

[MThunder]

@Fritz

And then to add insult to insult, they barely had him in the first third of the sequel either. There is just no really good reason to have left Winston out of so much of it, save for the fact he wasn’t in the first part of the first movie and they were set on regurgitating stuff from it.

No kidding. In the first movie, the going-into-business story, maybe writing Winston out of the film can be forgiven, considering all the characters they had to establish.

The sequel does not have that excuse. Winston and Ray are together in the first scene of that movie and they SEEM like they’ve been compadres for quite some time as the last two Busters standing. And then Winston just… disappears. They go investigating Central Park West without him, even though there’s no reason for Ray not to bring him along. They go tearing up the street without him, even though you’d want all the muscle you can get for that. He’s there at the start of the trial but he doesn’t actually stay to find out if his friends are going to jail or not. If it wasn’t for the pick-up scene where he breaks down the door and saves Ray and Egon from the fire, you could almost have taken him right out of the movie and not had to change anything.

@Fritz

It shows what a class act Mr. Hudson is that he’s not more bitter.

Mr. Hudson seems to be able to keep his disappointment away from both the movie itself and it’s fans. I don’t think he regrets being in the film, and he clearly loves the relationship he has with the fans. Winston might have been a smaller part overshadowed by the comedy titans that filled up the rest of the cast, but for better or worse, it’s his calling card. Just not the calling card he dreamed it was going to be. That’s got to be tough.

[Ivo_Shandor]

@Fritz

And then to add insult to insult, they barely had him in the first third of the sequel either. There is just no really good reason to have left Winston out of so much of it, save for the fact he wasn’t in the first part of the first movie and they were set on regurgitating stuff from it.

It shows what a class act Mr. Hudson is that he’s not more bitter.

Yup, they aped the structure of the first movie, including the minimization of Winston. Unneccessarily, in my opinion.

Ernie Hudson is definitely a class act.

By the way, another amazing Winston line is “What did you DO, Ray?!” Just before Stay-Puft appears.

[Alex_Newborn]

Um… that’s Venkman saying that. Winston has the very next line: “Aw, sh*t.”

Alex

[Ivo_Shandor]

@Alex Newborn

Um… that’s Venkman saying that. Winston has the very next line: “Aw, sh*t.”

Alex

Is it? Whoops.

Poor Winston, he has even less lines than I thought.

[guyx]

It sucks Ernie had a smaller role but it’s better that way. GB1 works perfectly. Had Winston been apart of the group from the get go, it would have ruined the dynamic. Winston comes in as an outsider and the laughs Winston gets from the audience wouldn’t have worked otherwise.

Nothing was “aped”. This is the way the film industry works. Everything is always changing and this is one change that the movie benefits from. Winston serves a purpose. Winston is the audience.

Life is hard, whether you are an actor or plumber. That “soul” line is devastating to read but Ernie was not a creative participant. It sounds like he is hurt over all the GB3 false starts and female rebooting. But hundreds of actors would kill to have his career! Frankly, and this is hard to say, but Ernie isn’t exactly Marlon Brando. At the same time the man has had a very respectful career as a character actor. It’s easy to blame racism on Ernie’s treatment in posters and advertising but keep in mind many of the GB2 reshoots involved Winston in key scenes. Ernie just doesn’t have that comedy background. The realities of the business revolve around so called “stars”. Character actors are the unsung backbone of Hollywood, but again, most would kill to have a chance at two ghostbusters films.

I don’t think Ernie would have worked as the voice of Winston. Voice acting is a totally different animal and the Winston in RGB was very different from the Winston Ernie played.

[nickoray]

I read this article when it came out. Really surprising to hear. I wonder why his character was sort of subtracted.

Ever since I was a kid, Winston Zeddemore was my favorite ghostbuster. He’s just so relaxed and relatable. Weird to think about now since the other three are so popular.

[JA_Slow]

@GuyX

It sucks Ernie had a smaller role but it’s better that way. GB1 works perfectly. Had Winston been apart of the group from the get go, it would have ruined the dynamic. Winston comes in as an outsider and the laughs Winston gets from the audience wouldn’t have worked otherwise.

Nothing was “aped”. This is the way the film industry works. Everything is always changing and this is one change that the movie benefits from. Winston serves a purpose. Winston is the audience.

Life is hard, whether you are an actor or plumber. That “soul” line is devastating to read but Ernie was not a creative participant. It sounds like he is hurt over all the GB3 false starts and female rebooting. But hundreds of actors would kill to have his career! Frankly, and this is hard to say, but Ernie isn’t exactly Marlon Brando. At the same time the man has had a very respectful career as a character actor. It’s easy to blame racism on Ernie’s treatment in posters and advertising but keep in mind many of the GB2 reshoots involved Winston in key scenes. Ernie just doesn’t have that comedy background. The realities of the business revolve around so called “stars”. Character actors are the unsung backbone of Hollywood, but again, most would kill to have a chance at two ghostbusters films.

I don’t think Ernie would have worked as the voice of Winston. Voice acting is a totally different animal and the Winston in RGB was very different from the Winston Ernie played.

Absolutely right. Hollywood is all a game and you either play their game or go home. Truth sucks but the truth it is.

[Sephiroth]

Here’s a pic of Ernie Hudson wearing my proton pack a week after this article came out. The man truly loves Ghostbusters and embodies the soul of what makes it so universally awesome. He doesn’t just represent the audience, he is an ambassador of the fans. It was an honor beyond words for me and my dad to have him wear the pack; literally gave chills to all who was there when he vented it and smiled as he posed for pictures.

[NormalGamer]

^ Heh. That’s cool. Good ol, Winston.

[SPJ]

I wish they would let the movie thing slide.

Maybe have a TV show where Winston goes around and helps out struggling franchises and such.

[JaysOccult]

Ha! I totally just pictured a “Restaurant Impossible” type show.

[SPJ]

@JaysOccult

Ha! I totally just pictured a “Restaurant Impossible” type show.

That would be an interesting idea. They could even go around to some of the established franchises that have appeared on the internet like Alabama Ghostbusters, SLC, and Ghostbustin 911 to name just a few.