Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver join in online 'Ghostbusters' cast reunion

The Ghostbusters have become the latest cast to get together online for Josh Gad's Reunited Apart video series.

Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson strapped on their proton accelerators and jumped on Zoom with Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts and director Ivan Reitman.

Even Jason Reitman popped by, son of Ivan Reitman and the director of the forthcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife, though he gave away nothing about the much-anticipated sequel.

Murray also chipped in about how the crew realised that they had a hit on their hands.

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“Ivan asked us to his house at Thanksgiving and showed us the early cut of the ballroom scene, the first catching Slimer scene,” he said.

“He showed us without all the special effects done in it and... I remember going back to work on Monday, saying, 'Guys, let's all calm down, it's gonna be really big'.”

Meanwhile, Reitman revealed that he was far from convinced that they could pull off the movie's climax, in which the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man lays waste to Manhattan, explaining that it was 'the thing that I was most afraid of while we were shooting'.

He added that he thought at the time: “I think the audience will go with us all the way, I'm not so sure they're gonna go for that 80-foot marshmallow man. And, of course, it's everybody's favourite.”

The subject of John Candy almost having played the role of Louis Tully (eventually played by Rick Moranis) also came up.

“I sent the very first script to John, who didn't really get it,” Reitman said. “He kept wanting to play him with a German accent with a couple of big German Shepherd dogs. I said, 'I think that would be confusing, given the [Terror] Dogs that are already on the roof. I don't think we can fit more dogs in this movie.'

“Of course, I knew Rick Moranis from Toronto and just sent him the script and told him what had happened with John. Rick read it and called immediately and said, 'Boy, John just made a terrible mistake, I'm so happy. Thank you, I definitely wanna be in this movie.'”

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Reitman Sr also paid tribute to the late Harold Ramis, who played Egon Spengler in the 1984 comedy, and its sequel Ghostbusters II.

“I sure miss him,” said Reitman. “I keep thinking of him as sort of a brother figure. I ended up working with him about five times, and he's really missed.”

Aykroyd added: “He was an incredible writing collaborator. He was not a believer in ghosts. He was very well educated in myth and mystique, and [he was] such a great writing partner because the references were there in an intelligent way and harnessed for laughter.

“A brilliant man, a brilliant collaborator. I miss him, too, obviously.”

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is coming to UK cinemas in March, 2021.