IvanReitman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

With Fantastic Mr. Fox making the press rounds at the London International Film Festival, it was only a matter of time before someone bugged Bill Murray (who voices Badger in the stop-motion film) about his participation in Ghostbusters 3. Last time we heard anything on the Ghostbusters front, it was being reported that Ghost Busters and Ghostbusters II helmer Ivan Reitman was indeed attached to direct (though he hadn't actually decided whether or not to go through with it), and most of the original cast (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver) was set to return alongside some "new recruits".

So, sure, it's all great to hear when you see this sort of stuff splashed across the internet, but it's always best to go right to the source to see just what's going on right this second. When asked about the third installment in London, Murray waved it off and basically said that his participation depends solely on a script he hasn't seen nor read yet. The actor also spoke a little about sequels in general, saying (in so many words) that Ghostbusters II was definitely not as good as the first one, which is one reason why he's so hesitant to give it another go.

Says Murray: "I'll believe it when I see it. I saw a guy talking about the end of the world a couple years ago, and I still haven't seen that either -- so I'm not going to believe the Ghostbusters story until I see it."

Watch the Bill Murray/Ghostbusters 3 interview over at SciFi Squad

Our Favorite Montages might be a relatively new feature around these parts, but since we started sharing some of our favorites in the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking about movies that I know back to front with a brand spanking new point of view. Back in 1984, I couldn't have told you what a montage was (and considering I was only 9 at the time, you can hardly blame me) but I did love Ghostbusters ... and I loved that song.

So if you had to place this montage into any category, you would have to go with the 'media montage'. Back in the golden days of cinema, this kind of segment would usually be accompanied with spinning newspapers and the like, but in 1984 it was all about talk radio and tabloid television. In this montage we watch our trio finally making a success of their paranormal extermination business, and with fame knocking at the door, they even get a little saucy 'ghost action'. Plus, if you're of a certain age, you get the added bonus of cameos from media types like Casey Kasem, Roger Grimsby and an obscenely young Larry King.

Now, by '84 I was familiar with the world of music videos and that's what this segment seemed like to my pop-culture saturated little brain. But as I've grown up and educated myself in the language of film I know it's much more than that, and that's why it has earned a spot among my favorites -- and brother, I still love that song.

After the jump: a compilation of 'busting montages from Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II...

How, exactly, do you market a genial, low-key comedy -- without raunch or major stars -- to a mainstream audience nowadays? Post Grad, which opens on Friday, features Alexis Bledel as a college graduate forced to move back home with her eccentric family. Bledel is an up-and-coming star, still known best as Rory in the long-running TV show The Gilmore Girls, but gaining increasing recognition through her roles in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel. 20th Century Fox Film is capitalizing on her appeal by marketing Post Grad as though it were a starring vehicle for her. Bledel is quite charming as the beleaguered yet ultimately determined Ryden Malby, a go-getter set on working at a publishing house until things go very wrong.

As I watched the film, though, I found myself more captivated by the supporting characters than by Ryden's job and relationship dilemmas. Jane Lynch as her mother, Bobby Coleman as her odd little brother, Carol Burnett as her live-in grandmother, and, especially, Michael Keaton as her father. In fact, Keaton appears to be channeling his role as the fast-talking, idea-popping Bill Blazejowski in Ron Howard's Night Shift from 27 years ago, all grown up as a semi-responsible adult; it's a wonderful comic performance.

And it struck me that Post Grad feels very much like a second cousin to Juno and Little Miss Sunshine and Sunshine Cleaning and Away We Go. While it may not be as successful as the best of the 'indie flicks that feel mainstream' -- in part because it doesn't strain to be profound or hip or edgy -- in its own, family-friendly way, Post Grad is positioned as a 'little film that could.'

Two of my favorite indie youngin's are Michael Angarano and Jesse Eisenberg. What's not to like? Angarano stole our hearts as the young William in Almost Famous, and has since popped up in Dear Wendy, Lords of Dogtown, and One Last Thing. Eisenberg, meanwhile, he started things off with the ever-excellent Roger Dodger, and continued on to The Squid and the Whale, The Education of Charlie Banks, and Adventureland (with Angarano's main squeeze, Kristen Stewart). Now the dudes are combining for some sweet indie fare together.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Angarano has signed on and Eisenberg is circling a new comedy called Ceremony. The film will follow a young guy (Eisenberg) who falls head over heels for an older woman (Elizabeth Berkeley again!?!?) who is getting ready to get hitched. His infatuation leads him to grab his friend (Angarano) and travel to a beat town to break up the nuptials ... only to realize that they're out of place amongst "the stately British groom-to-be and his guests." Poor guys.

But there's one more reason to keep an eye out for this project. It's being whipped up by the sons of two names that should sound quite familiar: Reitman and Winkler. Jason Reitman is one of the film's executive producers and Henry Winkler's son Max wrote the script and will make his directorial debut. (See him with Pops here.)

This sounds almost as good as the Fonz.

It's one of those projects folks are approaching very carefully as if it were a bomb ready to go off. All of these guys -- Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman -- they know that if they're going to bring this franchise back, it'll have to be on their terms and it'll have to only happen if the script is stellar. It's been 20 years since the last Ghostbusters movie, and while a lot of us would certainly welcome another installment, we know what happened to Indiana Jones after 19 years away ... so, yeah, take your time, boys.

MTV recently got the chance to ask Harold Ramis for a status update on the sequel, and he confirmed that the old cast (Ramis, Murray, Aykroyd and probably Hudson) would be returning, but ... as Ramis notes, "We're all going to be in it in different kinds of roles. We're going to be the sage mentors. There are going to be young Ghostbusters." Yup, that confirms the mentor angle and the younger Ghostbusters -- who may or may not come from the Apatowverse -- but it's early and things can change; Ramis later adds that he's still waiting to see a first draft of the script, from Office (and Year One) writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who are consulting with Ramis, Reitman and Aykroyd as they go. As far as who'll direct the thing, Ramis said he and Reitman are kinda hoping "someone else will do it." Personally, I have a feeling it'll be either Ramis or Reitman who ends up helming, but I guess we'll see.

Are you excited for this version of Ghostbusters, with older, familiar faces mentoring the new recruits?

When it comes to sifting through all actors responsible for portraying the most powerful man on the planet, there's no shortage of options. John Travolta did a great Bill Clinton impersonation in Primary Colors and Timothy Bottoms delivered a near-perfect imitation of George W. Bush in both D.C. 9/11: Time of Crisis and That's My Bush! Neither one comes across as particularly flattering, so presidential nominee Barack Obama has chosen a safer bet: At a recent party in Los Angeles, Obama revealed that he prefers Jeff Bridges' conflicted commander-in-chief in The Contender. Granted, he may have said this simply to keep his audience happy -- in this case, Contender director Rod Lurie, one of the attendees who was willing to plop down $28,000 for the event. "'I just plugged your movie," Obama told Lurie, according to a report the director sent to Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells.

Still, when you're under the kind of intense scrutiny that Obama currently endures, Bridges actually seems like a pretty safe choice. Choose Anthony Hopkins in Nixon and it sounds like you're endorsing the bad guy. Choose Kevin Kline in Dave and you come across as disingenuous. Choose Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove and somebody will call you incompetent. Bridges, on the other hand, plays a fierce leader bound to his moral convictions. Of course, Obama also expressed sympathy over Lurie's short-lived television show Commander-in-Chief, which featured Geena Davis as the first woman president. Perhaps it's no coincidence that he and Hillary have publicly made amends.

Ever since director Jason Reitman knocked one out of the ballpark with Juno, folks have been itching to see what the man takes on next. Yes, he's taken to producing a few things (like the Diablo Cody-penned Jennifer's Body), but what, exactly, will be his next directorial project. Well, according to Latino Review, they've heard from a source that the younger Reitman will direct an adaptation of the novel Up in the Air, written by Thumbsucker author Walter Kirn. Apparently, some digging reveals that Jason's dad Ivan Reitman is already executive producing the film after picking up a script from Sheldon Turner back in 2003.

Recently, Reitman told MTV that he was "writing something" and would "direct it at the end of the year." When pushed to reveal something, anything, Reitman said "it's a comedy and a drama [book adaptation]. Think Thank You For Smoking, but instead of political it's corporate." And if you look at the synopsis for Up in the Air over on Amazon (I've never read the book personally), it fits right into the above description.

Here's a taste: "Officially, Bingham is a management consultant, specializing in the lugubrious field of career transition counseling (i.e., he fires people for a living). But what Kirn's airborne protagonist is really doing is pursuing his own private passion, his great white whale: accumulating one million miles in his frequent-flyer account. As Up in the Air opens, Bingham has set out on a final, epic traveling jag. He intends to visit eight cities in six days, thereby achieving his own vision of Nirvana somewhere over Sioux Falls, South Dakota."

No official word on this one yet, but the pieces definitely seem to be coming together. Anyone read the book? Is it a good fit for Reitman?

UPDATE: LR provides the following update: I just got off the horn with Jason Reitman's publicist. She did in fact confirm that Jason is adapting the book but that no deal is YET in place for him to direct.

At the age of 30, Jason Reitman has directed a half dozen short films, two narrative features, and an episode of The Office. He has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Directing. He is beyond the usual Hollywood definition of "hot": he is, thanks to the runaway success of Juno, superheated, like the molten core of the sun.

At the age of 30, his father, Ivan Reitman, had directed one short film and two narrative features (the immortal Foxy Lady and Cannibal Girls). At that point of his career, it is safe to say he was as far from "hot" as possible: he was as cold as the far side of the moon, at least as far as Hollywood was concerned. Three years later, the success of Meatballs, especially in relation to its budget and its recognition as the one that made Bill Murray a film star, warmed things up for the senior Reitman, in much the same way that Thank You For Smoking would later warm up his son's career, raising expectations.

Thus it's interesting to compare Ivan Reitman's follow-up, Stripes, with his son's follow-up, Juno. Strictly in financial terms, Stripes was comparable to Juno, earning $85 million in 1981, a year in which only nine films broke the $50 million mark. (To be fair, Juno's budget, at $2.5 million, was only 1/4 of Stripes' reported budget.) Stripes wasn't nominated for any Academy Awards and Ivan has never been nominated, so that gives a leg up for Jason, but that's more a reflection of the Academy's malleable taste than any intrinsic merit. Though Stripes is remembered as a broad, mainstream comedy, I'd argue that it's just as edgy and independent as Juno, and displays some of the same borderline reactionary leanings as the newer film.

In a forthcoming interview with Premiere conducted by yours truly, Sigourney Weaver talks at length about all her various franchises, and even has a few words to say about the recently resurrected hoopla over a possible Ghostbusters III. When I pointed out that the film industry's renewed focus on next-gen 3D imagery and CG-rendered worlds means that perhaps a third Ghostbusters adventure is still feasible, Weaver looked at me a bit like I had just given her a toothache. She then took a big breath and said "Well, I just saw Ivan Reitman at this dinner, this lunch for his son, and, ummm, there's no way." Perhaps responding to the look of sadness on my face, she quickly added "You could 3D Ghostbusters. You could pay for that. I think they're fantastic movies for that time, and I think, if anything, Be Kind, Rewind is kind of a Ghostbusters for this time." Since I haven't seen Be Kind, Rewind, I have no clue what that last part is supposed to mean. Does Slimer make an appearance in Be Kind, Rewind or something?

It's not like any of this is a great surprise -- to my knowledge, Weaver has never expressed any enthusiasm for returning to the franchise and rumor has it she declined to participate in the upcoming video game that will feature voices from the main Ghostbusters and will cannibalize Dan Aykroyd's never-in-development Ghostbusters III: Ghostbusters Go to Hell script. Most of the recent GIII talk stems from Ernie Hudson, who was quoted as saying that he hoped the success of that particular game would renew interest in creating a third film, and that Ramis and Aykroyd still wanted a third film, too. That would be fine with me as long as it starts with a fresh concept, as opposed to the whole 'Manhellton' crap. I've heard Aykroyd describe his 'hell' script at length -- to a radio DJ on a country music station, no less -- and, frankly, it's the opposite of impressive. It sounds like a recipe for a studio-killing flop with a $300 million budget. But with Murray and Weaver and (apparently) Ivan Reitman not even down for a third go-round, don't hold your breath. To read the interview, which mostly centers on Avatar, check out Premiere.com on Thursday.

Good news , especially if you're a producer or director like Joel Silver or Ivan Reitman whose movies have grossed billions of dollars at the box office. According to a recent New York Times article, you now have a new way to finance your films -- Wall Street.

Wall Street investment groups like Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan are looking to get into bed with high-profile, and high-profit, Hollywood producers and directors. It's pretty obvious why this kind of deal is good for producers and directors. More creative control over their projects, a much bigger share in the profits from DVD sales and ownership of their films make this pretty much a no-brainer for creatives looking to get out from under the thumb of the studio system.

But what's the upside for the Wall Street crowd besides lunches at the Grill and Spago or the "glamor" of it all? Well, according to the article, the investors are in it for a reason that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone -- money. Plus, in return for the money they will also be trying to curb the free-spending ways of filmmakers and protect their investment by not funding things like development, which can eat up quite a bit of cash. So, Wall Street gets to invest in movies, with the potential for billions in profit, and still has a safety net in case something goes wrong. Seems like pretty smart business to me.

And what about the glamor of it all? Ivan Reitman's producing partner Tom Pollock put it this way in the article: "I don't think any of them are in it for the glamor. They kept talking about their next big deal, which was recreational vehicles."