Paul Rudd on why he always wanted to be Ghostbusters' Peter Venkman

People's new Sexiest Man Alive and his Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-star Carrie Coon weigh in on ghost roommates and why marshmallows are so darn nihilistic

By Marah Eakin  |  November 15, 2021 | 5:00pm
Film Features Ghostbusters
Paul Rudd on why he always wanted to be Ghostbusters' Peter Venkman
Paul Rudd, a map, and Carrie Coon in Ghostbusters: Afterlife Photo: Kimberley French

Paul Rudd always wanted to be Peter Venkman. At least, that’s what he told us in a recent interview around Ghostbusters: Afterlife. As Rudd explains in the interview below, he was “pretty taken” with Bill Murray’s Ghostbusters character, saying “I just thought, ‘that’s the coolest character I’ve ever seen and I would like to think in my dream world, I could be that cool under pressure and always funny.”

You can check out the full interview with Rudd and his Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-star Carrie Coon in the video below, or read the transcript that follows.

The A.V. Club: I’m sure that everyone today has asked you both about the first time you saw Ghostbusters, but I’m wondering, when you watched the first movie, which Ghostbuster you identified with?

Carrie Coon: I’m a total Spengler. I absolutely relate to Harold Ramis, because my way into acting has always been very intellectual, and so I think I’m a total Spengler. Also, I have glasses.

If I wasn’t a Spengler, then I would aspire to be a sexy Sigourney Weaver, but I would really be like a hip, cool Annie Potts.

AVC: Ooh, yes. Who doesn’t want that wind constantly in their hair?

CC: I want all that, but I’m really just the girl with cool glasses.

AVC: What about you Paul?

Paul Rudd: Well, I was pretty taken with Venkman. I was just saying that, with Bill Murray, as everybody is, I am a huge fan of his. When I saw the movie, I just thought, ‘that’s the coolest character I’ve ever seen.’”

I would like to think that in my dream world, I could be that cool under pressure and always funny. In my fantasy world, I would get to be somebody like him.

AVC: It’s worked out okay so far. You’ve at least gotten to work with Bill Murray.

PR: It’s cool. I’ll take it.

AVC: Carrie, in this movie, there’s a situation where—minor spoiler alert—there are ghosts in your house. Is there a situation in real life in which you would be cool with sharing your home with a ghost?

CC: Yeah, my friend, whose mother grew up in in Austria, had to walk through a cemetery to school every day. Her mother used to say to her, “It’s not the dead you have to be afraid of. It’s the living.” I’m perfectly happy sharing my space with a ghost. It’s people that I don’t like.

Ghosts are great. They’re clean, and they’re unobtrusive.

AVC: I’d want them to pay utilities though, or contribute in some way.

CC: Sure, if they could make a contribution, but they wouldn’t really use much, so, you know, it’d be on me anyway.

I like to think that I would be a cool ghost host, like if the ghost tried to scare me. I think I’d be cool with it. I’ve always been interested in the paranormal. I think I would hopefully be able to step back and enjoy the experience.

PR: I think, Carrie, that there’s something very open and welcoming about you as a person. I think you’d be super cool with ghosts.

CC: Thanks, Paul. That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.

The A.V. Club: It’s a very Midwestern attitude to just feel totally, “Well, as long as you’re not annoying, hang out!”

CC: “Put the milk in a glass, don’t drink out of the carton. Now you can stay.”

AVC: In the movie—and this is in the trailer, so I’m not spoiling anything—you, Paul, have do deal with a horde of tiny Marshmallow Men, all of whom seem to have little regard for their own personal safety or mortality. Why do you think Stay-Puft Marshmallows are so self-destructive or nihilistic?

PR: Yeah, what is it within a marshmallow that makes them that brutal? I’ve got to say, of all of the confections there, they’re the most brutal. You don’t see licorice doing that, do you?

It is a violent sequence. They really, really have at each other, but this is what’s great about marshmallows. They can be brutal to one another, but it doesn’t seem as if they judge one another. They can die a violent death with a smile on their face, excited about the idea of going up in flames or getting sliced by blenders.

They’re a violent candy by nature, but at their core, they have a very sweet disposition.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife hits theaters November 19. You can read our review of the film right here.

 
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