History Trivia / Ghostbusters

** Ray Park Jr. almost refused to do the theme song, as he had no idea how to work the title into it. However, when he saw the advertisement sequence, he was inspired to make it call-and-response.

** From the first film, during the GoodTimesMontage, Ray is shown dreaming about a female ghost hovering over him and unbuttoning his pants for some spectral loving. This was actually part of a larger scene where he and Winston were investigating an army fort, and this was where they were coming back from before the "dead rising from the grave" scene.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Bill Murray's brother Brian Doyle-Murray has a cameo as the psychiatrist in the second film. (Point of fact Brian has a bit part in a lot of little brother Bill's movies.) He is also the voice of the mayor in the 2009 video game (see HeyItsThatVoice below).

* HeyItsThatVoice: The Mayor is [[{{TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapJack}} Captain K'Nuckles]] (Brian Doyle-Murray who is the older brother of Bill Murray who plays Peter Venkman) -- or more on the topic of ghosts, also [[SpongeBobSquarepants The Flying Dutchman]].

* WordOfGod: Harold Ramis stated in the commentary that it was one of the first movies to use the word "slime" as a verb.

* HeyItsThatVoice: The Mayor is [[{{TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapJack}} Captain K'Nuckles]] (Brian Doyle-Murray who is the older brother of Bill Murray who plays Peter Venkman). Or more on the topic of ghosts, also [[SpongeBobSquarepants The Flying Dutchman]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: For a great movie, ''Ghostbusters'' varies tremendously from its original concept. Aykroyd's original script called for multiple groups of ghostbusters who traveled through time and fought ghosts in different dimensions. This idea was rejected as technically unfeasible in 1985; supposedly, the special effects would have cost over $300 million. Ivan Reitman re-purposed the script as a "going into business" story to make it more accessible to audiences.

*** The part of Venkman for written for John Belushi, [[AuthorExistenceFailure but alas...]]. Bill Murray, the driving force of the movie, was a last-minute addition to the cast. While Murray made the role his own, several lines are clearly intended for Belushi, such as the speech after the university fires them. It sounds corny from Murray, who usually plays a cynic, but Belushi was good with such speeches.
*** Eddie Murphy was to play Winston, who would have been part of the original group along with Ray, Peter and Egon. He was described as a former Marine and Ph.D.-level scientist, the original script called for Winston, not Venkman, to be slimed in the Sedgewick Hotel. Murphy was left out because they didn't want the movie to be perceived as an ''{{SNL}}''-inspired film, and because he was busy with ''BeverlyHillsCop'' at the time.

** The librarian ghost's OneWingedAngel form was originally [[NightmareFuel even scarier]]. The original model was later used in ''FrightNight''.

** And Peter [=MacNicol=], who portrayed Janosz in ''II'' is also the voice of [[spoiler: the [[BatmanArkhamCity Mad Hatter]].]]

* BeamMeUpScotty: "There is no Dana, there is only Zuul." is often misquoted as "There is no Dana, only Zuul."

** Reginald VelJohnson of 'Die Hard' and 'Family Matters' fame has a fleeting appearance (playing a police officer, naturally.)

** The librarian ghost's OneWingedAngel form was originally [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel even scarier]]. The original model was later used in ''FrightNight''.

** Reginald [=VelJohnson=], most famous for playing a policeman in ''FamilyMatters'' and ''DieHardOnAnX '' shows up here as... [[TypeCasting A policeman!]]

** Reginald [=VelJohnson=], most famous for playing a policeman in ''FamilyMatters'' and ''DieHard'' shows up here as... [[TypeCasting A policeman!]]

** Originally Gozer was going to take the form of a man in a business suit and would have been played by Paul Reubens. Reitman was the one to devise the androgynous form at the last minute, believing it would work better as a supernatural manifestation rather than the rather mundane look.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: For a great movie, ''Ghostbusters'' varies tremendously from its original concept. Aykroyd's original script called multiple groups of ghostbusters who traveled through time and fought ghosts in different dimensions. This idea was rejected as technically unfeasible in 1985; supposedly, the special effects would have cost over $300 million. Ivan Reitman re-purposed the script as a "going into business" story to make it more accessible to audiences.

** Adult film star Ron Jeremy was a crowd-scene extra in the first film; as one online commenter noted, "this was one of the few movies where [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean he didn't]] [[IncrediblyLamePun slime anyone]]."

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: For a great movie, ''Ghostbusters'' varies tremendously from its original concept.
** Aykroyd's original script called multiple groups of ghostbusters who traveled through time and fought ghosts in different dimensions. This idea was rejected as technically unfeasible in 1985; supposedly, the special effects would have cost over $300 million. Ivan Reitman re-purposed the script as a "going into business" story to make it more accessible to audiences.
** The part of Venkman for written for John Belushi, [[AuthorExistenceFailure but alas...]]. Bill Murray, the driving force of the movie, was a last-minute addition to the cast.
*** While Murray made the role his own, several lines are clearly intended for Belushi, such as the speech after the university fires them. It sounds corny from Murray, who usually plays a cynic, but Belushi was good with such speeches.
** Eddie Murphy was to play Winston, who would have been part of the original group along with Ray, Peter and Egon. He was described as a former Marine and Ph.D.-level scientist. Murphy was left out because they didn't want the movie to be perceived as an ''{{SNL}}''-inspired film, and because he was busy with ''BeverlyHillsCop'' at the time.
*** The original script called for Winston, not Venkman, to be slimed in the Sedgewick Hotel.
** The part of Louis Tully was initially offered to John Candy, who wanted to play him as an odd German guy who owned dogs. The directors didn't like this idea, since there was already so much dog imagery in the movie, but couldn't bring themselves to replace him. Fortunately, Candy passed on the role, and they offered it to Rick Moranis, who had a much better take on the character.
*** It helped, too, that Moranis, Candy, and Ramis were all friends since SecondCity together, and understood that the best guy for the role was the best guy for the role.

** The second movie was apparently supposed to start getting into the "other dimension" aspect of the mythology but that was changed at the last minute to something closer in plot to the first movie. Bill Murray was upset with the radical changes to the script and it is another reason why the third movie has been in DevelopmentHell.
*** Unfortunately, it is this similarity to the first movie that contributes to its overall poor reception.
** The Game ''finally'' starts to get into this, being cheaper to do than a movie format.
** Originally Gozer was going to take the form of a man in a business suit and would have been played by Paul Reubens.

** Reginald VelJohnson, most famous for playing a policeman in ''FamilyMatters'' and ''DieHard'' shows up here as... [[TypeCasting A policeman!]]