Actor Ernie Hudson has established himself as a strong talent that can add anything to your comedy or drama. But there was once a point where the actor didn’t feel that secure in himself and his legacy in the Ghostbusters franchise.
In a new interview, Hudson spoke about filming 1984’s Ghostbusters and how he felt the studio never valued what he brought to the iconic comedy-horror.
Speaking to SiriusXM’s Gary Dell’Abate and Rahsaan Rogers on The Howard Stern Wrap-Up Show, Hudson recalls joining the cast. “I was the guy who was brought in, and so finding my place in the middle of that — and they were all welcoming and inclusive, says Hudson. But adds, “The studio wasn’t, and the studio continued not to be. So it made it very, very difficult because I was a part of it, but then I very selectively was pushed aside.”
Still, to this day, he finds moments he feels slighted. “It took a long time. I went to the 30th-anniversary release of the movie, and all the posters are three guys,” he continued. “Now I know the fans see it differently, and I’m so thankful for the fans because the fans basically identified with Winston, especially young; I don’t want to say minority kids, but a lot of kids.”
He looks back at the character, coming late into production, without the same comedy credibility as his peers. “It wasn’t an easy road. Ghostbusters, I would say, it was probably the most difficult movie I ever did just from the psychological perspective,” he continued. “All those things…It definitely felt deliberate. And I’m still not trying to take it personally.”
He continues, “Anything bad, if you’re African American in this country, anything bad happens to you, you can always blame it on because I’m Black. You don’t want to go there. That’s the last thing I want to do…I got nothing bad to say about anybody, but it was hard. It took me 10 years to get past that and enjoy the movie and just embrace the movie. Ghostbusters was really hard to make peace with it.”
Hudson says he won’t let anyone push him around when it comes to returning for the upcoming Ghostbusters sequel. “If I’m going to do it, it has to make sense,” Hudson said. “When you start out in the business, I was always told it’s almost impossible to succeed. But if you get in a major movie from a major studio, and it comes out, and it opens number one, it will change your career. Well, Ghostbusters didn’t do any of that for me. I was working pretty nonstop, I did Ghostbusters, and it was two and a half years before I got another movie.”
A Ghostbusters Afterlife sequel movie will begin filming in March, and the plot reportedly follows the Ghostbusters team’s returns to where it all started: New York City! The Spengler family will continue with a new group of Ghostbusters led by Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) and Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd). After serving as writer in the last installment, Gil Kenan will helm the film, which is set for release on December 20th 2023.
