When we think of Ghosbusters, usually Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and the late Harold Ramis come to mind. With so much in the news about the 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters in the news, one of the ‘Busters on the team often gets lost in the shuffle, namely Ernie Hudson.
As Hudson told Entertainment Weekly, he looks back on ‘Busters “in a very fun way, but it’s got so many mixed feelings and emotions attached to it. When I originally got the script, the character of Winston was amazing and I thought it would be career-changing.”
Hudson heard rumors the role was written for Eddie Murphy, which director Ivan Reitman debunked. But Hudson’s part also got cut down considerably. “It was like my worst nightmare is happening. Ivan basically says, ‘The studio felt that they had Billy Murray, so they wanted to give him more stuff to do.’”
Yet Hudson also said, “I credit Ghostbusters for lessons I learned – how to deal with stuff when it doesn’t work out the way you want and you still got to keep doing it, how you keep a career going when it doesn’t turn to be all these things you dreamed of doing. I’ve been blessed, and I don’t want to make it a negative. You learn to adjust.”
Hudson hoped that Ghostbusters would have been a bigger boost to his career than it was, but at the same time, even if he wasn’t in it as much as the others, it sure isn’t a step down being in one of the biggest comedies of all time that’s still revered and loved after all these years. We know how success can be a double-edged sword, but we certainly hope Hudson can take comfort in that.
