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Slimer is one of the most iconic apparitions haunting the Ghostbusters franchise, and part of that timeless is due to the big scene in which Bill Murray‘s Venkman gets doused with slime. Murray recently shared his memories from the iconic scene, and it’s hilarious to hear he wasn’t expecting the scene to be as disgusting as it ultimately was. Not something he needed to worry about in Lost in Translation or The Royal Tenenbaums.
The gluttonous green ghoul lived on in the franchise and became the mascot of a popular Hi-C drink flavor, but had Bill Murray not been so completely covered in goop for the first film’s iconic scene, such branding decisions might not have happened. As we learned from film reporter Jake Hamilton in a recent interview with the actor, Murray can’t take all the credit, confessing he was drastically undersold on just how much slime would be utilized for the sequence. In his words:
Any director that’s going to abuse you physically or emotionally doesn’t give you any foreshadowing of that. You know, they’re talking and being friendly and then the next thing that happens is you’re covered with slime. So, I wasn’t quite ready for how disgusting it really was going to be.
Between this and the tremendous weight of the proton packs they had to wear, you’d think Ivan Reitman took some secret pleasure in making life uncomfortable for Bill Murray and the rest of the Ghostbusters cast. The way Murray talks about it, you’d think it was a wonder he signed up for the sequel, though I can’t help but feel the actor is leaning into his trademark comedic chops to make the story more entertaining.
That’s more evident when he continued the story, in my opinion, in which he hilariously depicted Reitman as someone who was scheming to blindside Bill Murray with an unpleasant experience. Here’s more on how it went down, from the actor’s perspective:
It was just business as usual and the director acts like ‘Hey, are we ready here? Come one. Yeah, hi, Michael you like this shot?’ Nothing about how disgusting you’re gonna feel in just a few seconds, just a total misdirect. So, it may be to get a performance to make sure your performance is pure, but I think it’s more like to avoid the possibility of like a reflexive right to the belly button or left hand to the jaw. They don’t tell you when it’s gonna be bad. I know I don’t get it. They try to sneak up on you.
Whether Ivan Reitman intentionally kept Bill Murray in the dark or not, it played a part in creating what remains the best Ghostbusters movie of the franchise. Unfortunately, the sequel didn’t work out as well as Slimer’s lasting legacy, and Murray and others were essentially tricked into participating when the script was swapped out at the last minute.
That aside, Slimer remained a big part of Ghostbusters, appearing in the animated series and almost getting his origin story in the 2016 reboot. I am disappointed that never happened because I’d love to see why that little freak exists.
Hopefully, there’s a future for Slimer in Ghostbusters going forward because the future is looking bright. CinemaBlend’s review of Frozen Empire praised the movie, and it feels like a cast that can keep chugging along for at least another film. I’m sure they might even be able to get Bill Murray for another movie, provided there’s no slime involved.
Those looking to stream Ghostbusters can find it right now if they have a Hulu subscription. For those who haven’t seen it in a while, I can attest that it still holds up, and the slime scene was worth any discomfort it caused Bill Murray.