Sony execs could only read Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife script while alone in a secure room

Reitman wanted no one to know he was following in his father's footsteps

By Gabrielle Sanchez | November 2, 2021 | 2:50pm

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Sony execs could only read Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife script while alone in a secure room

Jason and Ivan Reitman Photo: Craig Barritt

Jason Reitman, the Oscar-nominated director behind indie darlings such as Juno and Up In The Air, never thought he’d helm the next Ghostbusters film. Not because he’d never have the opportunity, but because he refused to follow in his father’s hit-making footsteps.

Born in 1977, Jason was only 7 years old when his father, Ivan Reitman, directed the O.G. Ghostbusters. Since then, it’s been an ever-present part of his life. “I don’t go a day in my life without seeing someone wearing a Ghostbusters T-shirt,” he said in an interview with Insider.

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For nearly just as long, Jason has said he would never direct a Ghostbusters film. So when the younger Reitman felt compelled to follow his dad’s dreams, Jason kept the news under the tightest of wraps.

“I think only three people at Sony knew of its existence,” Reitman says. “Each executive had to come by themselves to Ghost Corps and read the script in a room and then leave.”

“I really didn’t want it out there that we were writing this movie,” he continues. “Particularly after years of me saying I didn’t want to make a Ghostbusters movie.”

In the same year Paul Feig’s woman-led Ghostbusters hit theaters, Reitman received the green light from Sony to push forth with his own take on the franchise. With his father at his side for much of the project as a producer, Ghostbusters became a family affair.

“Every filmmaker is doing autobiographical work no matter what they are doing,” Jason says. “I made this movie for my dad. I made this movie for my daughter. I think it mirrors the ways that we want to be connected to each other.”

Ghostbusters: Afterlife arrives in theaters on November 19, and stars Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Carrie Coon, and Paul Rudd, with appearances from the original Ghostbusters Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Dan Aykroyd.