Your Commodore - Commodore Is Awesome

dismal films (including 'Scrooged' in 1987) and had subsequently dropped out
of sight; Aykroyd's 'Spies Like Us', 'Doctor Detroit', 'Dragnet' and 'The Couch
Trip' were all awful; !Zunis had written, directed and/or appeared in several
teen movies, with some success; director Ivan Reitman was filming
Schwarzenegger and DeVito (tipped to be Penguin in 'Batman II') in 'Twins';
female lead Weaver was enjoying critical success herself, earning Oscar
nominations for 'Aliens', 'Gorillas in the Mist' and 'Working Girl'. The man
who brought them all together was none other than Michael Ovitx, 'the King
of Hollywood' (actually head of the famous Creative Artists Agency of Los
Angeles).
What happened at their lunchtime meeting in Jimmy's (a Beverly Hills
showbiiz restaurant) was the first step towards making 'Ghostbusters W. As
Murray recalls, 'Walking into the meeting no-one really felt we's make the
movie. But in the course of lunch we had so many laughs and so much fun
that it became clear we'd really enjoy working together again." A year of
deal-making later, the sequel was rolling with virtually the entire cast of its
predecessor, even down to the 'Busters' long-suffering (ex)-secretary (played
by Annie Potts) and accountant-cum-attorney (Rick Moranis). The delectable
Sigourney Weaver reprises her role as Dane, Bill Murray's on-off girlfriend
in the first movie, since when Dana has married, had a child and divorced
and actually gets the group 'busting ghosts again when strange things start
happening to her baby boy, Oscar. She admits to being "a bit bewildered"
by her comedian co-stars, saying "It's like being put in a class with awful
boys, who spend all their time throwing spitballs and dunking your braids
into the inkwell. It's a streak of masochism for me. I just find it wonderful."
The film is being shot on a $30 million budget, kept low by Murray, Aykroyd,
Ramis and Reitman working for a profit-share wage rather than their customary
up-front fee, an idea suggested by Reitman after testing it with Schwarzenegger
and DeVito on 'Twins'. Dawn Steel is quoted as saying that 'Ghostbusters
II' could have cost "close to $50 million" had the stars taken their wages in
advance. "We'd much rather pay a piece of the profits than huge salaries,"
she says. "That way we're saying 'take the risk with us. Then we're partners.'"
Risk? Surely a sequel to a $220 million movie isn't risky? "It's pretty scary,"
Steel demurs, "because the Summer is so jammed with product" Indeed,
'Batman', 'Star Trek V' and 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' were all
vying for a piece of 'Ghostbusters II's audience.
Ms Steel and the others involved in the film needn't have worried, as it
turned out. 'Ghostbusters II' opened to a phenomenal audience reaction,
smashing all the box-office reconds 'Indy III' had broken mere weeks before
('Batman' and 'Lethal Weapon 2' were to bust the records again only weeks
later...) At the time of writing, nearly three months before it opens on this
YOUR COMMODORE
FEATURE •
Above: You shoudin't pee into an electric
urinal.
Above: "Just blow into this, Mr Painting
Bad guy.
Below: Ho, ho, ho, and a steaming ghost
trap!
Sixty One