History Trivia / Ghostbusters

** The [[{{Gainaxing}} very bouncy]] blonde woman who briefly dances with Louis Tully is Jean Kasem, wife of voice actor & radio personality Creator/CaseyKasem. In fact, Jean's [[OneSceneWonder very brief role]] in the film is one of her best known roles!

** Also the reason Winston is a lesser character -- when Hudson signed on, Winston was in the script from page eight (rather than toward the end of act 1), and was by far the most technically competent and qualified of the Ghostbusters. [[WordOfGod Aykroyd]] apparently still blames himself for Hudson's character being sidelined.

* Ray Parker Jr., who performed the film's iconic ThemeTune, was sued by Huey Lewis over the similarity of the melody to that of "I Want a New Drug". The matter was settled out of court.

*** Creator/EddieMurphy 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 ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''-inspired film (even though Harold Ramis was never an ''SNL'' cast member; he was on ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', which some people see as a LighterAndSofter Canadian version of ''SNL''), and because he was busy with ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' at the time. Winston was then re-written as more of a blue-collar everyman and eventually given to Ernie Hudson, though WordOfGod has it that Winston was a Marine and a [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam veteran]] before joining the Ghostbusters (this never comes up in the films or the animated series, the latter of which has two episodes stating that Winston was previously a construction worker).

* DevelopmentGag: In the comic, a guide who helps Ray through his dreams bears a resemblance to John Belushi (specifically, in ''Film/TheBluesBrothers''), who would have been in the films, had it not been for his untimely death.

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: Ivan Reitman shot alternate scenes removing much of the profanity for television broadcast, with dialogue just as good as the original.

** According to Ernie Hudson, this is the reason why the sequel isn't seen as the same level of quality as the first. After executives saw how popular the first movie was with kids, they forced some changes onto the second movie to make it more appealing to a younger audience. Much like what happened to later seasons of the cartoon, they tried to fix something that wasn't broken; thankfully, the movie didn't suffer too much from it.

** Creator/BillMurray's brother Creator/BrianDoyleMurray 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) as well as one of the voices of Peter's father from the cartoon.

** Cheech Marin is a dock worker in the second film who witnesses the arrival of the ''Titanic'' and says, "Well, better late than never!"

*** EddieMurphy 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 ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''-inspired film (even though Harold Ramis was never an ''SNL'' cast member; he was on ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', which some people see as a LighterAndSofter Canadian version of ''SNL''), and because he was busy with ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' at the time. Winston was then re-written as more of a blue-collar everyman and eventually given to Ernie Hudson, though WordOfGod has it that Winston was a Marine and a Vietnam veteran before joining the Ghostbusters (this never comes up in the films or the animated series, the latter of which has two episodes stating that Winston was previously a construction worker).

*** Michael Keaton was offered the choice of playing either Venkman or Egon Spengler and declined both.

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

** [[AuthorExistenceFailure Harold Ramis' death]] in February 2014 was also the final nail in the coffin for ''Ghostbusters III'' (though Egon's appearance in the film was supposedly going to be very brief anyway), and most likely contributed to the third film becoming a ContinuityReboot instead. Fan response to the continued work on the film is almost entirely ''extremely negative'', with one of the reasons being that fans consider it [[InsulttoRocks insulting to]] Ramis' memory.

** [[AuthorExistenceFailure Harold Ramis' death]] in February 2014 was also the final nail in the coffin for ''Ghostbusters III'' (though Egon's appearance in the film was supposedly going to be very brief anyway), and most likely contributed to the third film becoming a ContinuityReboot instead. Fan response to the continued work on the film is almost entirely ''extremely negative'', with one of the reasons being that fans consider it insulting to Ramis' memory.

* WorkingTitle: ''Ghost Smashers''.

* GenderFlip: The director of ''{{Bridesmaids}}'' and the writer for ''TheHeat'' are planning an [[http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/ghostbusters-is-back-with-hilarious-women-says-paul-feig-20141010-1141la.html all-female sequel]], which Bill Murray at least is cool with.

* AFIS100Years100Laughs: #28

** Creator/BillMurray's brother Creator/BrianDoyleMurray 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).

** The librarian ghost's OneWingedAngel form was originally even scarier. The original model was later used in ''Film/FrightNight1985''.

*** The part of Louis Tully was initially offered to Creator/JohnCandy, 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.

** [[AuthorExistenceFailure Harold Ramis' death]] in February 2014 may or [[http://io9.com/despite-harold-ramis-death-ghostbusters-3-is-still-mo-1531615939 may not]] have upset the production of Ghostbusters III. It's probably worth mentioning that even though Egon's appearance in the film was supposedly going to be very brief anyways, fan response to the continued work on the third film is almost entirely ''extremely negative'', considering it insulting to Ramis' memory.

*** Speaking of her husband, he was heard in the first film on the radio in Dana Barrett's apartment, discussing the Ghostbusters on (presumably) his program ''Radio/AmericanTop40''. Funnily enough the title song was heard on the countdown itself for much of 1984.

** Speaking of her husband, he was heard in the first film on the radio in Dana Barrett's apartment, discussing the Ghostbusters on (presumably) his program ''Radio/AmericanTop40''. Funnily enough the title song was heard on the countdown itself for much of 1984.

* ActorAllusion: Vigo's full name was [[AllThereInTheManual later revealed to be]] Vigo Von Homburg Deutschendorf. When Vigo steps out of the painting, he is played by German wrestler Wilhelm von '''Homburg''' and baby Oscar was played by twins William T. and Hank J. '''Deutschendorf'''.
** In the comic series, Ray is visited by the ghost of [[Film/TheBluesBrothers Joliet Jake]].

** The librarian ghost's OneWingedAngel form was originally even scarier. The original model was later used in ''Film/FrightNight''.

** Dana's violinist friend from I is the BigBad from ''BeverlyHillsCopIII''

*** EddieMurphy 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 ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''-inspired film (even though Harold Ramis was never an ''SNL'' cast member; he was on ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', which some people see as a LighterAndSofter Canadian version of ''SNL''), and because he was busy with ''BeverlyHillsCop'' at the time. Winston was then re-written as more of a blue-collar everyman and eventually given to Ernie Hudson, though WordOfGod has it that Winston was a Marine and a Vietnam veteran before joining the Ghostbusters (this never comes up in the films or the animated series, the latter of which has two episodes stating that Winston was previously a construction worker).

** 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 he didn't [[IncrediblyLamePun slime anyone]]."
*** Becomes HilariousInHindsight once you realized that he's slated to appear in Hustler's adult spoof ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nHaU6q5SM8 This Ain't Ghostbusters XXX]]''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: According to Ernie Hudson, this is the reason why the sequel isn't seen as the same level of quality as the first. After executives saw how popular the first movie was with kids, they forced some changes onto the second movie to make it more appealing to a younger audience. Much like what happened to later seasons of the cartoon, they tried to fix something that wasn't broken; thankfully, the movie didn't suffer too much from it.

* GeniusBonus: Probably [[AccidentallyAccurate unintentional]], but "Zu ul" is actually a plausible Sumerian noun phrase, meaning "Ancient wisdom"!
* HeyItsThatGuy: Creator/BillMurray's brother Creator/BrianDoyleMurray 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).

* DeletedScene: One such scene in the second movie helped explain the moment when [[spoiler:Vigo possesses Ray]] during the final showdown. During the first museum visit, the guys examine the painting of Vigo and fans may remember [[spoiler:Ray being hypnotized and needing to be snapped back to reality]]. This was supposed to lead into a sequence where [[spoiler:Vigo tries to use Ray to crash Ecto-1 and kill the Ghostbusters in a traffic accident]]. [[spoiler:Winston manages to grab the wheel and save the day, while Ray - no longer under Vigo's influence - can't account for what just happened]]. Note that a couple of clips from this sequence were used in the montage - specifically [[spoiler:Ecto-1 crossing through an intersection and Peter in the car, looking bewildered]].

*** [[SmokingHotSex Kind of explains why he's smoking there.]]

*** EddieMurphy 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 ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''-inspired film (even though Harold Ramis was never an ''SNL'' cast member; he was on ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', which some people see as a LighterAndSofter Canadian version of ''SNL''), and because he was busy with ''BeverlyHillsCop'' at the time. Winston was then re-written as more of a blue collar every man and eventually given to Ernie Hudson, though WordofGod has it that Winston was a Marine and a Vietnam veteran before joining the Ghostbusters (this never comes up in the films or the animated series, the latter of which has two episodes stating that Winston was previously a construction worker).

*** EddieMurphy 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 ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''-inspired film (even though Harold Ramis was never an ''SNL'' cast member. He was on ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', which some people see as a LighterAndSofter Canadian version of ''SNL''), and because he was busy with ''BeverlyHillsCop'' at the time. Winston was then re-written as more of a blue collar every man and eventually given to Ernie Hudson, though WordofGod has it that Winston was a Marine and a Vietnam veteran before joining the Ghostbusters (this never comes up in the films or the animated series, the latter of which has two episodes stating that Winston was previously a construction worker).