The new Ghostbusters has been the recipient of a lot of premature hatred. Lead actress Kristen Wiig speaks out about the unexpected backlash.
We’ve seen nothing but set photos from Paul Feig’s upcoming Ghostbusters revival, and have heard nothing but good things from old and new cast members, and yet fans are already up in arms about the new movie.
Paul Feig himself has taken to Twitter to express his frustration and disappointment with the haters — some of whom are outright bashing the all-female cast, others who claim they’re spewing hate and vitriol for other reasons — and now, female lead Kristen Wiig has spoken out as well.
“Some people said some really not nice things about the fact that there were women,” Wiig told The Hollywood Reporter, admitting that she was surprised by the misogynist backlash. “The fact there was so much controversy because we were women was surprising to me,” she said.
And it is surprising; Wiig also starred in Paul Feig’s Bridesmaids, a movie that has been almost universally celebrated for its all-female cast and its trope-busting moments. Earlier this year, Feig’s Spy (starring Melissa McCarthy, who’s also on the Ghostbusters squad) was applauded as taking a traditionally male-dominated genre film and seamlessly switching the gender roles.
Related: New Ghostbusters adds Sigourney Weaver, an original cast member
“It didn’t make me mad, it just really bummed me out. We’re really honoring those movies,” Wiig insisted in the THR interview.
And while we realize that the Ghostbusters franchise has a strong, passionate, and predominately male fanbase, we wish everyone would wait to judge this new movie until it actually premieres. Like with all other remakes and reprisals, there is a chance it won’t live up to the original — but even if that’s the case for Ghostbusters, hopefully this will have nothing to do with the fact that the new cast members are women.