This morning, in a surprise announcement accompanied by a pretty hilarious video on social media, the latest casting for Jason Reitman’s upcoming Ghostbusters film was revealed via Variety: Paul Rudd will be joining the new cast for production which begins in a couple weeks. It is not clear what his role will be at this time. (EDIT: According to Variety he’ll be playing a teacher.) He joins Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, and McKenna Grace as the confirmed members of the cast. According to Jason Reitman at Ghostbusters Fan Fest, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Sigourney Weaver have all read the script. And, just recently on her press tour for Toy Story 4, Annie Potts excitedly didn’t deny that she had heard a thing or two about the new film.
Long-time fans may be having flashbacks as, in 2009 when a third Ghostbusters film was rumored to involve Judd Apatow Rudd’s name was among those that were speculated to be in his recast crew. So persistent were the casting rumors back then that Rudd had to deny his involvement. But now, there’s no denying his involvement this time around.
This will most likely be the first among many announcements and news items as production ramps up in Calgary.