Celebrity Byte

What's your role in this massive project?

I helped to shape the script. But really, the gamers and programmers and engineers are in control of these creative projects. You can have an original script by Steven Spielberg, but ultimately he's going to turn it over to programmers and gamers to make something out of it. And as I was taught in Second City to respect the writer, we respect the programmers and engineers in this industry as creative people. That's when the best product happens. Don't get in their way is what I'm saying.

So you didn't re-write the whole thing from scratch, and basically worked with what was already on the page?

In the game, my vocal and audio contribution was pretty much like "Recruit! Hey! Get up here! Look out! Here they come!" You know? It's a lot of that. A screenplay is 120 pages, and a game is 650 pages. So we contributed where we could, but we didn't get in the way of the action of the thing. We'd find sometimes there were terms they used from the first and second movies that we had to readjust, but not much. They really had the vernacular down. The guys who built this game are real fans. Real passionate fans! That love comes through.

Is the spiritual side of Ghostbusters something that is important to you?

It's a long-standing belief in my family that there is an afterlife, and I believe in spiritualism. I've been all around the country, and unsolicited I've had a dozen people come up to tell me about the presences in their house, and I only say to you one thing: Hans Holzer. He is the real ghostbuster. I'm not even sure if he's still alive, he was in his late '80s when I met him. He has a massive book about all the cleansings he's done, and I'm passionate about it.

The guys who built this game are real fans. Real passionate fans! That love comes through.

How much does this scratch your Ghostbusters creative itch? Have you had your fill of the thing for a while?

No, I don't think so! I'm the biggest cheerleader for this concept. First of all, I think it's entertaining, as we saw with the first two movies, and now with the game. I want to see the third movie made. I think this is the third movie and if everything is creative and right, this helps get the third movie made.

Can you reveal anything about the movie, or will Gozer the Gozarian appear and…do things??

We have a good concept for that. The young writers from The Office that worked with Harold [Ramis] on Year One -- you know, the book of Genesis adapted into a comedy, who but Harold Ramis could pull that off? So these two writers, Eisenberg and Stupnitsky, they sound like either a vaudeville team or a law firm, are brilliant young guys and they've come up with a good story. But you know, they were inspired by the game! All the way through, I said 'go see the game!' And they watched the game, and already in their story outline are things from the game that will be in the movie. It's building nicely.

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