Ghostbusters Director Admits Confronting Trolls Was a 'Mistake'

CBR

By Liam Nolan

Published Apr 28, 2017

Director Paul Feige stands by his approach to the female-led 2016, but now wishes he had simply ignored the trolls.

The female-led "Ghostbusters" reboot was met with intense, and frequently vitriolic, criticism before the cameras even rolled. While the cast, which included Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones,addressed the backlash in interviews, director Paul Feig routinely fought back against trolls on social media. Now, as the first anniversary of the film's release draws near, he acknowledges that wasn't the best tactic.

"Before 'Ghostbusters,' I had this sort of lovely relationships with the internet," Feig said Tuesday at the Tribeca Film Festival. "If I could go back in the time machine, I just wouldn't read it ... The biggest mistake I made was I took on one of the trolls."

However, the filmmaker doesn't regret the decision to reboot "Ghostbusters" with female leads. The "Bridesmaids" director said female viewers have responded positively to the film, telling him, "if I had this movie when I was a kid, I would have been an engineer right now."

"I would love to do more than that," he added.

The film's first trailer for the reboot of the 1984 comedy classic garnered an unprecedented number of dislikes, but even McCarthy noted that she found it confusing. "Ghostbusters" is at 73 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 60 on Metacritic.

(via CNET)