Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Production Notes

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was just released in theaters all across the United States. To celebrate, here is the film's Production Notes, dated March 13, 2024; provided by Sony.

Generally, this type of document - which is given out to press outlets to promote a film - shouldn't contain spoilers, but just in case it does, here is a SPOILER ALERT.

In Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the Spengler family returns to where it all started -- the iconic New York City firehouse -- to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who've developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an army of ghosts that casts a death chill upon the city, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.

Columbia Pictures presents a Ghost Corps production, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Starring Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts. The film is directed by Gil Kenan. The producers are Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, and Jason Blumenfeld. Written by Gil Kenan & Jason Reitman. The executive producers are Dan Aykroyd, Gil Kenan, JoAnn Perritano, Amie Karp, Erica Mills, and Eric Reich. The director of photography is Eric Steelberg, ASC. The production designer is Eve Stewart. The editors are Nathan Orloff and Shane Reid. The costume designers are Alexis Forte and Ruth Myers. Music by Dario Marianelli. Based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters, an Ivan Reitman film written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for supernatural action/violence, language and suggestive references. The film will be released in theaters nationwide on March 22, 2024.

ABOUT THE FILM

Three years ago, the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife became a passing of the torch as a new generation of Ghostbusters -- and Ghostbusters filmmakers -- took up the mantle. Now, the story continues as the Ghostbusters return to their old haunts -- lower Manhattan -- to face their most terrifying (and hilarious) threats yet in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. After co-writing and executive producing Afterlife, Gil Kenan steps into the director's chair for the new film.

For Jason Reitman, stepping into the Ghostbusters franchise meant truly embracing his role in the family business. "One of the great experiences of my life was making Ghostbusters: Afterlife with my father, sitting next to him on set, going to the initial screenings with him, and then getting to tour the movie around the world, to stand in front of an audience with my father and say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Ivan Reitman,'" he says. "I'd watch them rise to their feet, and then my father would inevitably cry. It was the experience of a lifetime. It was beautiful and it made me feel like I was part of the Ghostbusters family."

A few months after the release of Afterlife, Ivan Reitman passed away, leaving an unmatched legacy of comedy and ghostbusting. Before he did, he gave one last piece of transgenerational advice. "We sat outside with my dad and we started telling him all our ideas for the next Ghostbusters movie," Jason Reitman recalls. "We laid it all out for him, and it's the last story that I ever got to tell my dad -- the story of Frozen Empire, a new adventure for the ghostbusters back in Manhattan."

Dan Aykroyd, who returns to his role as Ray Stantz and executive producer of the franchise, says, "What really impressed me was the way Jason and Gil have continued the story in ways that feels drawn from the DNA we drew up in 1984. Ultimately, these were regular guys -- and now, an ordinary family -- who joke and tease and push each other, but they also save the world from terrifying spectral menaces and take that seriously. I love that combination on the big screen."

Taking the helm of a Ghostbusters film is a responsibility that director Gil Kenan does not take lightly. "Ghostbusters sets a very high bar," he says. "Every film that has come before has some indelible cinematic moments. We are all aiming high to create a film worthy of the Ghostbusters logo, and the spirit that allows the improvisation, the looseness, the sense of play or life in front of the camera, is all part of a collective spirit of trying to capture lighting in a bottle. It's a Ghostbusters film."

As with all films in the franchise, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is designed to be an entry point for new moviegoers who have never seen a Ghostbusters movie before, and also satisfy diehards who have been at every opening day since 1984. "Ghostbusters changed my life as a kid -- the unique blend of scares and comedy… I had never experienced anything like it in a movie theater before," says Kenan. What really got me was the fun of it all, the joy on screen. It was that feeling, a thrill ride through the supernatural world around us, that inspired me in creating the tone of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. At times funny, at times scary, always fun. And not just for adult fans who like me grew up with the films, but for all audiences, including kids who will be the same age now that I was when I first saw Ghostbusters… Kids who I hope will discover in this film the same thrill of discovery in the world of Ghostbusters that I did in 1984."

In picking up the reins, it was important for Kenan to take the franchise's themes and make them his own. "With Afterlife, there were very personal themes to Jason that were being worked through in the screenplay of that film. It was absolutely a film about the passing of a generational torch and seeing whether the characters in that story could look at their heritage and accept their destiny. That is Jason's story," says Kenan. For Frozen Empire, he says, as Reitman and Kenan once again co-wrote the film, it seemed natural for Reitman to take producer duties and for Kenan to direct. "For me, as a storyteller, there has always been a question about how to define home -- it's a theme that has been running like a ribbon through all of my work. As focused on this film, it became clear that the animating principle of this story is a family trying to find a way to ground themselves, to have a place they can hold onto, a place to define them as a family. That is a question I can sink my teeth into, and it just started to naturally feel like the story I should direct."

In Afterlife, Callie (Carrie Coon), Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), and Phoebe Spengler (Mckenna Grace) -- the family of the recently departed Egon Spengler -- were unaware of Egon's history as part of the ragtag group of scientists that twice saved New York and the world from the forces of the dead. Discovering his past, and joined by friends Gary (Paul Rudd), Lucky (Celeste O'Connor), and Podcast (Logan Kim), they embrace his legacy as their future.

Afterlife ended with the Ghostbusters taking the Ecto-1 back to the Tribeca firehouse where it all began -- and that is where Frozen Empire picks things up. "They're learning to become a family," says producer Jason Blumenfeld. "They have made the firehouse their home, their workshop, their laboratory."

And it isn't easy when the place you live and grow up is also the place where you work. "Part of their tension is the interplay between the life and work, finding the balance," says Kenan. "The firepoles lead from the bedrooms down to the kitchen, then down to the lockers where they put on their flight suits and strap on their proton packs; the car is on the ground floor. That natural tension between who we are as a family and who we are as Ghostbusters is right at the center of this story."

And that balance is thrown into chaos when the Ghostbusters receive a direct order from Mayor Walter Peck (remember him?) for Phoebe to stand down. Peck has dreamed for 40 years of shutting down the Ghostbusters, and his latest shot across the bow is the "child labor" of the teenage Phoebe handling a nuclear-powered proton pack.

"Peck has always had it out for the Ghostbusters," says Mckenna Grace, who reprises her role as Phoebe. "He sees Phoebe as the weak link in the chain, so he decides to pick on her a bit -- she's not allowed to ghost bust because she's a minor. Whatever that means -- she wasn't too young when she defeated Gozer."

For Phoebe, it's especially painful, because in busting ghosts, she finally has found a way to belong. When the film opens, the entire family is together in the Ecto-1, taking down a Sewer Dragon. "Not only do we get to see the whole family working together, but it's so rad the way they are doing it -- it's super casual," says Grace. "You can tell they have been doing this a while and this is their jam. Busting ghosts is what they are really good at." And then, in a moment, it's taken away.

Also feeling his way into uncharted territory is teacher-turned-ghostbuster Gary Grooberson, played by Paul Rudd. Having survived being turned into a devil dog alongside Callie, the two are now partners in love and busting. But with two teenagers under the roof of the firehouse, it's not exactly clear where he stands. "His instinct is to be the kids' buddy, but sometimes you have to be a parent and lay down the law. This, however, is the issue - he isn't a parent. He's only known them for a couple of years. He really treasures and loves them, but it's all a little undefined, and that is something that weighs on his mind, because he really feels as if this is his home."

For Coon, returning to the franchise was a welcome opportunity to play a different kind of role. "Thematically, the core of the story is still about family, but it's not your usual movie mom behavior," says the star. "Callie is in a really good place in her life. She has a purpose, which she was struggling to find in Afterlife. She's taken over this family business, and she has a lot of pride in that, and her family is functioning better than it ever has. Not only that, but she's found in Gary Grooberson an equal and supportive partner who has joined the family business as well. Plus, she gets to pilot the drone trap."

Meanwhile, Trevor -- now 18 years old and an adult, just ask him -- is finding his own place in the world, both as part of the family and his own man. "He is trying to be an adult and find his feet in the big city. He's pretty excited to be away from Oklahoma," says Wolfhard. But, he continues, Trevor also embraces his role as a Ghostbuster, for better or for worse… when he finds ectoplasm dripping from the ceiling, he heads to the attic of the firehouse to investigate, where he finds a pile of junk food detritus and then an old friend. "Being slimed by Slimer could have been a lot worse," he says. "There was a cool rig made by the special effects department that shot slime out of my shirt and all over my face. They even put a little mint in it to give it some flavor. It really wasn't too bad -- it was actually pretty fun."

Also returning are Celeste O'Connor as Lucky and Logan Kim as Podcast. "Lucky has moved to the Big Apple," says O'Connor. "She has the amazing opportunity to have an internship with the Ghostbusters in New York City as an engineer, so she's really learning a lot of new technical skills and the inner workings of what it means to be a Ghostbuster."

Kim says that Podcast's relationship with Ray Stantz has expanded ever since he found out that the legendary Ghostbuster was the neophyte's one and only fan. Determined to drag Ray into the modern age, Podcast produces an online show with Stantz, where everyday objects are judged on whether they are haunted… or just ordinary household items to be destroyed by Podcast's Hammer of Truth. "Their dynamic is fantastic, because they're very like-minded individuals," says Kim. "They both believe in the same theories and conspiracies -- they're a good pair."

In New York, the Ghostbusters encounter new characters who will hold some answers to the new threat facing the city. At the center of the story is Nadeem, an aimless slacker selling off his late grandmother's old possessions for the scratch to survive. One such object: an old brass orb that he thinks will be right up Ray Stantz's alley -- and indeed, its PKE readings are off the charts. When it turns out that the orb is an ancient jail holding the terrifying demon Garraka.

Garraka's legendary power is "the death chill" -- he literally freezes people in fright. And this is no ordinary frostbite -- his supernatural power can ice out every ounce of your body -- causing you to shatter in tiny crystals. And not just you -- Garraka is a devastating, unrelenting evil, capable of deep-freezing the earth and everyone on it. What's cooler than being cool, indeed.

To take out the threat, it turns out that only Nadeem has the right stuff… if he can focus on something useful for once in his life. The role is played by Kumail Nanjiani. "What's great about Nadeem is that he really encompasses what makes Ghostbusters special," he says. "He's a slacker. He's completely discounted by everyone around him. And he's the only one who can tackle this big, terrifying demon who can scare people to death just by looking at them. That's what I love -- he's a very grounded, normal character… some might call him a loser, and he doesn't like it, but can't deny it. And then suddenly he has to defeat this massive demon."

Patton Oswalt joins the fun as Dr. Hubert Wartzki, a paranormal librarian confined to the bowels of the New York Public Library. "It's fun to play a guy who has so much knowledge but has only experienced this stuff in his mind, and now gets a chance to experience it head-on," he says.

As for whether the comic actor has ever come into contact with a ghost in real life… it's a touchy subject. "Listen. I've never had a paranormal experience, and it drives me crazy," he says. "I could not be more open to the paranormal, but I've never had a ghost encounter, a UFO, cryptid, timeslip, none of that stuff. And people around me have had nothing but paranormal experiences. I would love to encounter something otherworldly. I think I live on a vibration where that just doesn't happen to me."

Making his motion picture debut is British comedian James Acaster, playing Lars, a scientist with Winston Zeddemore's Paranormal Research Center. For the actor, the whole experience was "surreal," in his words. "Reading the script for the first time, I was ticking things off that I never thought I'd get to do, but suddenly now they're childhood dreams fulfilled. When you take part in something you've watched your whole life, you feel like you've just stepped into the TV or the movie screen. It's weird."

When Phoebe gets benched, she is in a vulnerable, lonely place -- which leads her to open up to a teenage ghost, Melody, who expired in a Washington Square fire decades ago. Now, ghostly flames lick her apparition as she literally burns with desire to complete her unfinished business.

The role is played by "Gossip Girl's" Emily Alyn Lind. "She's a witty old soul," she says. "She likes playing pranks on mortals in the park, but Phoebe is unfazed. They get to talking and realize right away that they're cut from the same cloth -- they're both outsiders in a lot of ways. I think a lot of people growing up feel like they're different from other people, so it's really important when you find your people to hold onto them. Whether Phoebe likes it or not -- can you have a friendship between a ghost and a ghostbuster?"

As for the OG Ghostbusters… Winston Zeddemore has become the keeper of the flame as the only living Ghostbuster with a head on his shoulders -- having made his fortune, he has kept the firehouse going and started the new Paranormal Research Center. Ray Stantz still has his occult bookshop and has hired Podcast to bring him into the modern age as a YouTube influencer. Janine Melnitz will always have a home in the firehouse. And Peter Venkman… well, who can ever know what he's up to. We hear that if you want to get in touch with him, you leave a message on an answering machine somewhere…

Bill Murray says that he's always thrilled to be returning to the Ghostbusters films, not only because he enjoys his role and the comedy, but because reuniting with the people he's known for decades is so gratifying. "Family, for me, is not what I thought it was when I was eight," he says. "Now it means a whole different thing. As we're trying to rid the world of these phantoms that upset us all in our lives, that's what we're doing when we play together, when we work together. When you face the thing that frightens you the most, it's usually a marshmallow man, when you come down to it."

"What's really kind of cool is we're with a new generation," says Ernie Hudson. "I love that aspect, because the original film was just us -- but now it's a bigger group, 40 years into the future," says Hudson. (On hearing this: "You are a public relations dream come true," says Murray.)

All of the characters have to face the fact that they are leading very different lives than they did four decades earlier. "At this point in life, Ray is being financially supported by Winston," says Aykroyd. "He still has his bookshop, though the rent is paid for by his old friend, and he is really yearning to get back behind the wheel of the Caddy so he can bust some ghosts again, but that's not in his destiny. He's kind of wistful and bittersweet about it."

And Janine Melnitz finds herself busting ghosts for the first time. "She's such a New Yorker," says Potts. "It's so much fun to play her -- someone who might be rude to your face or brush by you on the street but when you truly need help, they are Totally THERE! So of course, she suits up to bust some ghosts. New York needs her."

ABOUT THE SPECIAL AND VISUAL EFFECTS

Making ghosts real was a job that touched every aspect of filmmaking, but none more so than two departments: Special Effects, headed by John Van Der Pool, and Visual Effects, led by VFX supervisor Geoff Baumann and VFX producer Nicole Rowley.

As they did on Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Kenan and Reitman insisted upon ensuring the ghosts' look remained consistent with the 1984 and 1989 films. Those films, notes Baumann, were achieved with old-school film-based camera techniques -- and Baumann says that the new generation of filmmakers sought to bring those methods into a modern world of filmmaking. "The history of practical effects and visual optical effects in the Ghostbusters franchise has been strong," says Baumann. And the desire to remain practical on Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was as strong as ever. "I think especially as today's world of filmmaking is drifting into a CG world, there was a strong desire to take a step back, look at 1984 filmmaking process, try to adopt as much of that as we could while also incorporating modern day tools as well."

The approach they took for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire highlights the symbiosis between two very different departments. Special Effects builds and operates any effect that is captured physically, in-camera -- which might be fog or rain or explosions, but also could be the Ecto-1 itself after it has come to life when inhabited by a Possessor ghost. Visual Effects is computer imagery -- anything that will be achieved in post-production through compositing or animation. Through it all, there was one mantra: "It had to be grounded in something that one could believe was real world," says Baumann. "

For example, in the 1984 film, the character Slimer was a large rubber puppet, worn by an actor, composited over background scenes with the actors. On Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the filmmakers took a similar approach: working closely with the teams that sculpt and build the puppets, as well as the performer (or, sometimes, multiple performers) who will operate it and the director of photography, Baumann says that the old-school technique is a tricky business but well worth it. "It was an amazing opportunity to work with practical puppeteers, and then assist and augment their work," he says. "Being able to literally play with the puppet had a strong influence on our artists and crews."

The advantage, says Van Der Pool, is the chance to show something in a Ghostbusters film that has never been shown before: Slimer sliming in-camera. "He's a proper celebrity and a classic character, but all the previous films have never managed to achieve sliming in camera. The camera cuts, they pour slime on the actor, cut back to the actor drenched," he notes. "On this picture, we got the opportunity to develop a method of sliming Finn in camera: a self-contained pack that could do a slime splat on Finn's chest and on his back at the same time."

And Van Der Pool's team also creates the slime itself, noting that the recipe for slime has remained the same over the years, handed down since 1984. Mixing over 1,000 gallons of the stuff -- literally a ton of slime -- fell to a dedicated Slime Team.

Other ghosts -- like the sewer dragon racing through the streets of Manhattan in the film's opening sequence -- are CG creations. "The Sewer Dragon sets the pace and lets the audience know they are in a Ghostbusters movie," says Baumann. Even though this ghost is entirely CG-created, Baumann notes, "we took a lot of time to reference 1984 and some of the practical ghosts in that movie. We tried to find ways to have our CG character hark back to those ideas."

They did that by animating a creature like they would any other -- and then making it ghostly. "We had a character with skin and bones -- one that felt more real world -- and then we started to peel that away to get it into the ghost world," he says. "We looked at the ghosts in the 1984 film -- coming up from the storm drain, Slimer's transparency -- and we introduced that into the Sewer Dragon."

One special challenge for Baumann was the Possessor ghost, which can inhabit inanimate objects and bring them to life. At one point, it escapes in the New York Public Library, first disguising itself as a trash bag before jumping into Patience, the Library Lion that guards the south side of the library entrance, and menacing Ray Stantz. Wide shots were filmed on Fifth Avenue, but as the chaos erupts on the famous steps, filming shifted to the London soundstages that were the home of the production of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

The Possessor ghost inhabits so many different objects -- a vacuum cleaner, a Sony Discman, a wax cylinder phonogram, stacking chairs, a paper plane, a pizza, the Ecto-1, and on and on -- that this demon was the primary challenge for Van Der Pool's SFX team… and one they embraced.

At one point, the Possessor demon inhabits Lucky's proton pack, firing it off at random. "We created a lightweight, breakaway version of that pack, so that Podcast can come in and smash it to pieces with his Hammer of Truth," says Van Der Pool. "A lot of rubber components, a lot of sparks, and the actors could be right next to it."

Another triumph for Van Der Pool's team was a tricycle that pedals itself down the street. "It would steal the show every time," he says of the production. "Everyone was fascinated by it. It's charming."

And the pizza: Van Der Pool's team inserted two rods into a pliable disc that they could control to make the pizza inchworm its way across a table. For Van Der Pool, it's a great example of what a puppeteer can bring to an effects prop. "Even though it is just a rubber pizza on the end of two sticks, it shows the subtle nuances that a puppeteer can add to a character," says Van Der Pool. "At one point, the pizza flicks off the little plastic pizza table -- the thing that separates a pizza from its box -- and runs off across the counter. It's just those little touches that bring it to life."

Enhancing Melody with her flames also required a close collaboration between visual and special effects. "Gil didn't want a human torch; just little flames lapping at her body. What came to mind for me was a Christmas pudding," notes the British Van Der Pool. Perhaps inspired by the annual tradition of igniting the brandy-soaked cake, Van Der Pool created a mix of brandy and hand sanitizer that he could spread over a dummy. "We lit that and up it went into great ghostly flames," Van Der Pool continues. "The VFX team then shot that and gave it to the visual effects house, and they superimposed that onto the actress playing Melody."

In an early sequence, when Phoebe first meets Melody, the ghostbuster plays chess against the ghost in Washington Square Park. Playing chess against a ghost might not seem to be a complicated special effect -- magnet in the chess piece, magnet under the board, piece slides to a new position, seemingly by itself. But the invisible Melody lifts her piece off the board and places it in a new position -- even kicking Phoebe's captured chessmen off the board. Van Der Pool's team pulled it off with a combination of cables and radio-controlled servos.

Not all of the ghosts in the film are so menacing or ferocious. The Mini-Pufts that first appeared in Ghostbusters: Afterlife are back, and they have infested Ray's occult bookshop. Eagle-eyed viewers will note that the animators took the opportunity to load these scenes with bizarre and hilarious ways that the mischievous little imps get themselves into trouble over and over again.

But the main villain if formidable indeed: Garraka has the power to freeze individuals -- even entire cities -- in fear. At the climax of the film, our heroes are working against the clock trying to stop this evil god with the power to literally frighten people to death -- and indeed, various parts of Manhattan are being frozen over.

Garraka's victims are so completely frozen that they shatter into tiny particles of ice. For Van Der Pool, pulling that off seemed no problem at first; he recalled that Terminator 2 did something similar. But that was with high explosives, meaning no actor could be nearby. Kenan pushed back -- he wanted to show an actor touching the frozen body, which then shatters.

To pull that off, again, the visual effects team started with real life, working closely with the makeup and hair departments, then passed the baton to the physical effects team. After makeup and hair added frost to faces and costumes to make the actors appear frozen, the VFX team scanned them -- photographed them with hundreds of cameras from different directions. With that information, they could build a computer graphics version of those characters.

From that model, two things could happen. First, the special effects team could build an extremely fragile model of the character. "It's a very brittle wax," says Van Der Pool. "The sculptures can't support their own weight -- there's a mechanism inside rigged with cables and wires, so we can bring them down. Head, shoulders, and they collapse on cue." Second, Baumann could also use his model to augment the shattering effect, hand-in-hand with the practical collapse.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION AND COSTUME DESIGN

BAFTA-winning production designer Eve Stewart credits the original Ghostbusters with influencing her life's path. "I saw the original in 1984 when I was at art school in London, and I'd never seen anything like it before," she says. "I was just thrilled. That film really deviated me from being a theater designer and made me want to do movies. So to work on this Ghostbusters film as a production designer is amazing."

As with the design of the ghosts, Stewart embraced the need for a continuity of look between the first two films and the modern movie. "To recreate the Ghostbusters look on this movie was both exciting and daunting, because the fan base is massive, and has been since '84 and '89. You don't want to disappoint all those fans," she says.

Stewart says the overall feel of the film is one of shabby high technology. "The design aesthetic of this movie is a tricky one. They have stuff everywhere; every wall is packed with tech, gadgets and really interesting bits and pieces. At the beginning, I was slightly reserved and I didn't put enough in -- but I learned to just stuff it to the gunwale. And everything is held together with tape, which is a big factor in the Ghostbusters aesthetic. It's not like watching a Star Wars film, where everything is super high tech -- you can look at a Ghostbusters film and see there's a cog, a little motor, a light, you can see the battery connecting to it with electrical tape. It's more accessible, more interesting, and ultimately, more human."

That overstuffed set design can especially be seen in the firehouse kitchen, she says. "The Spenglers have moved in and made it their home," she notes. "It's still the old firehouse, but it's a family that is making proton packs and creating new ones or melting metal at the kitchen table while eating pizza. Creating that amalgamation was fun."

With much of the action taking place inside the firehouse itself, but the production shooting on soundstages in London, Stewart and her team recreated the entire building -- three floors plus an attic -- on set. "The changes we made to the firehouse were minimal, because by now it has practically become its own character," she says. "The one thing we did have fun with is quite subtle: in all the floors and all the ceilings, there are patches where we've changed the floor surface or mended the ceiling with concrete, to make it look like they refurbished it after the explosion of '89."

One new location in the Ghostbusters' New York is Winston Zeddemore's Paranormal Research Center. "That was really good fun," says Stewart. "We wanted to set it in an abandoned aquarium. I did a lot of research and found an amazing deco aquarium that had existed in Baltimore in the 1930s -- that gave me the inspiration for all the tiles and the shapes. We knew we had to have an exterior for this aquarium in New York, so we found a big, round building on Staten Island that we could use as the exterior. That, in turn, informed the very aqueous shapes and corridors and arches we have designed inside. And it seemed natural to have empty fish tanks for the ghosts to live in."

When it came to the costumes, costume designers Alexis Forte and Ruth Myers similarly did not want to reinvent the flight suit. "The Ghostbusters suits are still the original design, which is very important in our Ghostbusters universe," she says. Well, there has been one change: where in Afterlife the characters wore the ill-fitting suits of their predecessors, they have since had time to find form-fitting fashion made especially for them. "What changed in this movie is now all the suits fit them," Forte continues. "The Spenglers all have new suits that fit them and are made to measure. But it's still 100% the original design from '84."

Of course, it's one thing to be in the field busting ghosts, and another thing to be in the lab, studying them. As their work has different requirements, Forte gave them different costumes: a black version of the flight suit, with a slimmer cut, no elbow pads, pockets at the chest for pens or tools, clean brass snaps at the wrist, and a new patch: a ghost inside a cog, to show they are technicians.

Of course, dressing the OG Ghostbusters meant showing new sides to characters the audience knows well.

Most dramatically, Forte says, Winston Zeddemore no longer dresses off-the-rack. "Winston has the most drastic transformation from when he originally appeared as a Ghostbuster. He is doing so well that all of his suits and shirts are made to measure, and he has lovely ties and pocket squares. That was wonderful to explore with Ernie -- he gets to enjoy the luxury of having the money to dress how he wants to and also support the people that gave him a chance when he needed a job."

For Ray, Forte identified one particular item of clothing to recreate: a denim jacket that Aykroyd wore in the first film. "It has a corduroy neckline and big pockets on the chest and the front, like a task jacket," says Forte. "Dan had the fitting and loved it -- and then we took it away and aged it so it looked like he'd had it for years. We put extra pens in the pockets and aged the pockets; we gave it some stains and sanded down the corduroy. Gil loved it and couldn't stop talking about it that day on set, because it felt like it had been with Ray for years and just now pulled out of the closet."

In designing for Janine Melnitz, Forte not only gave the character a Ghostbusters flight suit for the first time but expressed her singular New York style. "She's lived in New York City her whole life," notes Forte. "Nothing she's wearing is very expensive, and she isn't very wealthy, but she has style and isn't scared of mixing pattern on pattern or wearing bright-colored glasses."

For Venkman, Forte and her team recalled that for all of the character's blue-collar aesthetic, before he became a ghostbuster he was a PhD professor at Columbia. "In the original film, he wore a lot of plaids and stripes," she notes. "For this film, it was important to have some lightweight fabrics, some linens, unstructured blazers, but we still have some elbow patches, which is definitely a very Peter Venkman thing. He has a relaxed professorial vibe."

Myers cites three costumes especially that made her proud: the frozen costumes of the 1903 Manhattan Adventurers' Society, which opens the film; Melody's burning dress; and Nadeem's armor.

"The 1903 scenes, which happen at the very beginning of the film, give a completely different atmosphere," she says. "It was almost the equivalent of the racecourse scene in My Fair Lady. I felt that I had been given license to make it perfect in every way, to give a little more emphasis to the silhouettes, to make things a little larger than life. I approached it more like a painting than I usually would -- the costumes are very carefully designed, they're very carefully color controlled and detailed. To make the costumes appear frozen, we wired collars and tailcoats, we had little bits of icicles falling off broaches and jewelry, lots of accessories -- watch chains, flowers in lapels, rings, cufflinks, studs -- all frozen with little icicles. As for the clothes themselves, because they are frozen, they shrink up a bit, so they'll have more arms showing because the cuffs are going back."

For Melody's costume, Myers was very aware that she was dressing a ghost. "Although she is a ghost, she also has to feel totally believable. She has to have a sense of the history -- that she has been around, that she didn't sleep anywhere, that she had some sort of weird connection with life on Earth. In the end, it seemed to me that the best way we could do this would be to give her the essence of a silent film star -- I wanted her costume to recall Lillian Gish's iconic costumes. She's wearing a little vest, which could be a twenties vest, with a little semi-ballet dress she wears underneath. Then, she wears heavy boots and socks, which she could have picked up in the street. I wanted the sense that her clothes didn't look like anything that you'd ever been able to buy in a shop, but somehow it almost organically evolved as part of who she was."

Approaching Nadeem's armor was perhaps Myers's greatest challenge. "When Gil sent me the script, my reaction was somewhere between surprise and terrified. I'd never even considered that I could design armor," she says. After researching armor in every museum and gallery in London and Los Angeles, she found inspiration in the most unlikely place. "By pure chance, I went into an antique mall where there was this very strange metal decorative fan with marvelous etching on it, which completely released me and gave me all the inspiration that I needed for how the armor should be engraved."

To construct the actual armor that Kumail Nanjiani would wear, Myers teamed with a firm called Machinarium. "I was spending three days a week there working with them, which I found afterwards was not something they were used to," she recalls. "It was a lovely working experience, and the result is a totally unique, beautiful armor for Kumail Nanjiani's character."

SEWER DRAGON: In modern day New York, the Sewer Dragon is the size of a city bus -- a shimmering blue ghost with a long tail and wispy blue tendrils floating in its wake.

SLIMER: Having never been caught by the Ghostbusters in 1984, Slimer is still residing in New York -- in fact, he has made his nest in the attic of the firehouse.

THE LIBRARY GHOST: She's back! And Ray comes face to face with the Library Ghost once again in the corridors of the New York City Library.

MINI-PUFTS: Ray Stantz couldn't leave the Mini-Pufts behind when he returned to NYC, so he brought a couple with him. But the mischievous marshmallow creatures seem to be multiplying and can be found in every corner of the basement of Ray's Occult Bookstore.

PHOSPHOR: Phosphor is a spirit that uses high-intensity light beams to dramatic effect. A stunning, ultraviolet ghost that appears to float calmly, with beautiful tentacles undulating, this specter is a resident of the Paranormal Research Center, being studied by Winston Zeddemore's team of scientists.

MELODY: Melody died in a fire many years ago and is trapped in this dimension… but when she befriends Phoebe, the young ghostbuster will have to determine what kind of spook she is.

POSSESSOR GHOST: This ghost is a mischievous poltergeist. He moves from object to object, possessing each one as he travels from a stack of chairs, to a bin bag (baggie), to a hoover and even one of the concrete lions guarding the steps of the New York City Library. According to Ray Stantz, Possessor is extremely dangerous and impossible to trap.

PUKEY: Pukey by name, Pukey by nature. This cute little guy looks a little like a potato, but when he unhinges his lower jaw, watch out.

GARRAKA: Garraka is a phantom god, the leader of the undead. Thousands of years ago, it was prophesized that Garraka would usher the end of humankind with Kusharit Umoti, aka The Death Chill, the power to kill by fear itself. A grotesque, menacing dark god with sweeping horns and hollow cheeks, Garraka has returned to New York to form a legion of ghosts, and he knows just where to find one…

ABOUT THE CAST

PAUL RUDD (Gary) most recently starred in the third season of "Only Murders in the Building" alongside Meryl Streep, Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez. He was nominated for a 2024 Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the ensemble.

With Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Rudd reprises a role he first played in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, grossed over $200 million globally.

Rudd recently wrapped production on A24's Death of a Unicorn, which he stars in opposite Jenna Ortega, and Andrew DeYoung's comedy, Friendship, alongside Tim Robinson and Kate Mara.

Rudd is well known for starring in the Ant-Man franchise. The third film, Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, was released worldwide last year. He starred in and co-wrote Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Collectively, the Ant-Man franchise has grossed over $1.6 billion at the global box office, and Rudd has been nominated for a Critics Choice Award and two MTV Movie Awards for his role as Scott Lang.

In the Marvel Universe, Rudd starred in Avengers: Endgame, which opened to an unprecedented global debut of $1.2 billion, becoming the first film in history to surpass $1 billion during its opening weekend. The film, which was directed by the Russo brothers, received a Critics' Choice Award for Best Action Film and has made over $2.7 billion worldwide, becoming the second highest-grossing film of all time. Additionally, he starred as Ant-Man in Marvel's Captain America: Civil War, which grossed over $1 billion worldwide.

Rudd is also well known for starring alongside Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, and David Koechner in Adam McKay's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, as well as Judd Apatow's This Is 40 and Knocked Up. Anchorman 2 grossed over $170 million worldwide and received a People's Choice Award nomination and two MTV Movie Award nominations. Knocked Up grossed over $300 million worldwide, received a People's Choice Award for Favorite Movie Comedy, a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Comedy Movie, and was named one of AFI's Top Ten Films of the Year. Additionally, This Is 40 was nominated for a 2013 Critics' Choice Award for Best Comedy Movie and Rudd was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy.

Rudd's other film credits include: Role Models (co-writer), Our Idiot Brother, I Love You, Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Clueless, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Wet Hot American Summer, Wanderlust (producer), The Catcher Was a Spy, Mute, Cider House Rules, The Object of My Affection, They Came Together, Prince Avalanche, Admission, Dinner for Schmucks, The Fundamentals of Caring, How Do You Know, Monsters Vs. Aliens, The Ten (producer), Night at the Museum, Diggers, The Chateau, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, among others.

On television, Rudd starred opposite Will Ferrell and executive produced "Shrink Next Door" for Apple TV+. Additionally, Rudd starred in Netflix's comedy series "Living with Yourself," for which he was nominated for a 2020 Golden Globe Award and Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Television Series.

His other television credits include playing Mike Hannigan on "Friends"; Bobby Newport on "Parks and Recreation," for which he won a 2012 Critics' Choice Award for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy; and reprising his role as Andy in David Wain's Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later along with the original cast for Netflix. Additionally, Rudd was the co-writer and co-creator of the critically acclaimed series "Party Down" on Starz, which had a limited series revival in 2023 that Rudd executive produced alongside Rob Thomas, John Enbom, and Den Etheridge.

Rudd returned to the Broadway stage in 2012 in Craig Wright's "Grace," starring opposite Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington, and Edward Asner at the Cort Theatre. "Grace" was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play and Rudd was nominated for a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance Award. His other stage credits include starring opposite Julia Roberts and Bradley Cooper in Richard Greenberg's Broadway production of "Three Days of Rain," Neil Labute's "Bash" in both New York and Los Angeles, as well as Labute's "The Shape of Things" in London and New York. Rudd made his West End debut in the London production of Robin Phillips' "Long Day's Journey into Night" opposite Jessica Lange. Other Broadway credits include Nicholas Hynter's "Twelfth Night" at Lincoln Center Theater, with a special performance which aired on PBS' "Great Performances," and in Alfred Uhry's Tony Award-winning play "The Last Night of Ballyhoo."

CARRIE COON (Callie) is one of Hollywood's most sought-after talents with a wide variety of roles across film, television, and theatre. She has garnered acclaim throughout her career and continues to cultivate her impressive body of work.

Coon can most recently be seen in season two of HBO's "The Gilded Age," alongside Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, and Morgan Spector. The series, created by Julian Fellowes, centers on a period of immense economic change, of fortunes made and lost and the rise of disparity between old money and new. Coon portrays Bertha Russell, who comes from the ordinary middle class and is determined to use her money to position to break into a society that resists change. The series has since been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and is set to begin production on season three this fall.

Coon will soon be seen in Azazel Jacobs' His Three Daughters, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and has since been acquired by Netflix.

Recently announced, Coon will star in season three of the Emmy-winning global phenomenon anthology series "The White Lotus" alongside Michelle Monaghan, Christian Friedel, Aimee Lou Wood, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey and Leslie Bibb, among others. Production is currently underway in Thailand.

In 2022, she was seen starring opposite Keira Knightley in Hulu's Boston Strangler, written and directed by Matt Ruskin. The film follows Loretta McLaughlin (Knightley) as the reporter who first connected the murders and broke the story of the Boston Strangler. She and Jean Cole (Coon) challenged the sexism of the early 1960s to report on the city's most notorious serial killer.

Coon's breakout role in film came in the highly acclaimed film Gone Girl opposite Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, and Neil Patrick Harris. Based on the best-selling novel by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl tells the story of Nick (Affleck), a man in a rocky marriage whose life implodes when his wife goes missing and he becomes a suspect for murder. Coon portrays Margo "Go" Dunne, Nick's twin sister and confidant.

Additional film credits include Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife; Sean Durkin's The Nest, for which she received critical acclaim; Steve McQueen's Widows; Jonathan and Jon Baker's Kin; Anthony and Joe Russo's Marvel Universe blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War; Jody Hill's The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter; Steven Spielberg's The Post; Christian Papierniack's Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town; Karen Moncrieff's The Keeping Hours; and Katherine Dieckmann's Strange Weather.

In television, Coon starred as Vera Walker in the second season of the USA Network's critically lauded limited drama series "The Sinner." For her work, Coon was nominated for her third Critics' Choice Television Award, this time for Best Actress in a Movie or Limited Series. In 2017, Coon made history by winning the first-ever double TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama for her brilliant work in both HBO's "The Leftovers" and FX's anthology series "Fargo"; the latter also earned her an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie as well as a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for Best Actress in a Movie or Limited Series. For her work in "The Leftovers," Coon was awarded the 2016 Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series. Her additional television credits include "Intelligence," "Ironside," "Law & Order: SVU," and "The Playboy Club."

Coon's increasing renown can be traced back to the Steppenwolf stage in Chicago, Illinois. In 2011 -- in her inaugural performance with the venerable Chicago-based acting ensemble -- Coon starred as Honey in the theatre company's production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" opposite Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, and Madison Dirks. The production opened on Broadway shortly thereafter to universal acclaim and would go on to win the 2013 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. For her portrayal, Coon was recognized with both a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play, and a Theatre World Award to honor her outstanding Broadway debut. Since her debut, she has gone on to star in numerous additional productions for Steppenwolf, including "The March," "Three Sisters," and most recently, the world premiere of "Mary Page Marlowe." She was recently named an ensemble member in January 2019.

Outside of her theatre work with Steppenwolf, Coon most recently portrayed the titular character in Amy Herzog's world premiere drama "Mary Jane" at the New York Theatre Workshop. Her performance garnered a 2018 Lucille Lortel Award, an Obie Award, and a Drama Desk Award nomination. The play, which revolved around a single mother caring for her chronically ill son, enjoyed a hugely successful extended Off-Broadway run. Prior to her performance in "Mary Jane," Coon made her Off-Broadway debut in the 2015 world premiere of Melissa James Gibson's "Placebo" at Playwrights Horizons. Additional theatre credits include "Magnolia" (Goodman Theatre); "The Real Thing" (Writers Theatre); "The Girl in the Yellow Dress" (Next Theatre); "Our Town" and "Anna Christie" (Madison Repertory Theatre); "Reasons to be Pretty" and "Blackbird" (Renaissance Theaterworks); and multiple seasons with American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Born and raised in Copley, Ohio, she received her B.A. from the University of Mount Union and her M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She currently resides in New York with her husband and creative collaborator, Tracy Letts.

Multi-hyphenate actor, musician and director FINN WOLFHARD (Trevor) is best known for his starring role as Mike Wheeler in the global phenomenon Netflix Original Series "Stranger Things." The hit series has received various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series; two MTV Movie & TV Awards for Show of the Year; an AFI award for TV Program of the Year; and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama Television Series. To date, the series has received 51 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including four for Outstanding Drama Series. The fourth season became Netflix's most watched season to date, premiering in two volumes in the summer of 2022, breaking global streaming records. The season set new benchmarks as the first streaming show to surpass the seven billion Nielsen viewing minutes mark.

Wolfhard's feature film and directorial debut Hell of a Summer recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023. He co-wrote and co-directed the horror-comedy with Billy Bryk and also starred in the film alongside Fred Hechinger.

In 2022, Wolfhard starred alongside Oscar® winner Julianne Moore in the A24 comedy-drama feature When You Finish Saving the World, written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg and produced by Emma Stone. The mother-son story was inspired by Eisenberg's Audible Original of the same name, where Wolfhard voiced the role of Ziggy. This same year, Wolfhard also lent his voice to Guillermo del Toro's Academy Award®-winning stop-motion animated musical movie Pinocchio, which premiered on Netflix. Based on the classic Carlo Collodi tale, the critically acclaimed film follows the extraordinary journey of a wooden boy magically brought to life by a father's wish.

In 2021, Wolfhard starred in the box office hit theatrical feature Ghostbusters: Afterlife from director Jason Reitman alongside Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, and Mckenna Grace. Wolfhard was the recipient of the 2022 Saturn Award for Best Younger Actor in a Film for his work.

In 2020, Wolfhard starred in Amblin's haunted house film The Turning opposite Mackenzie Davis and Brooklynn Prince. In 2019 alone, Wolfhard co-starred in three diverse feature films: he reprised his role of Richie Tozier in New Line's blockbuster sequel It: Chapter Two; he co-starred in Warner Bros. & Amazon Studios' The Goldfinch, an adaptation of Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize winning & New York Times bestselling novel, alongside an all-star cast including Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, and Jeffrey Wright; and he voiced the character Pugsley Addams in MGM's animated movie The Addams Family.

Also in 2020, Wolfhard made his directorial debut with his first short film, Night Shifts. The character driven comedy tells the story of two old friends reconnecting during an unexpected encounter one night. The short was accepted into the Fantasia Film Festival, where it received the Silver Audience Award for Best Canadian Short. It was also accepted to both the Calgary International Film Festival and The Barcelona International Short Film Festival. In 2021, Night Shifts screened at the prestigious TIFF Next Wave Film Festival.

In September 2017, Wolfhard made his move from the small screen to the silver screen, playing the lead role of Ritchie Tozier in the film adaptation of the Stephen King novel It. Fans of the novel will remember Wolfhard's role as Trashmouth, part of the Losers Club. The film premiered to critical acclaim, breaking opening weekend box office records in its debut and going on to become the highest-grossing horror movie in history. Wolfhard, along with his cast, received the award for Best On-Screen Team at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards. He also starred in Dog Days alongside Vanessa Hudgens and Nina Dobrev in 2018.

Wolfhard can be heard in the hit Netflix animated series "Carmen Sandiego," which ran for four seasons from 2019 until 2021. He has also been a strong supporter of independent voices in animation. He played a role in the Adult Swim series "JJ Villard's Fairy Tales," as well as a role shared with his older brother Nick Wolfhard in the recent surprise hit "Smiling Friends." Alongside his brother Nick and actress Anya Chalotra, Wolfhard headlined the voice cast of the animated series "NEW-GEN," based on the comic series distributed by Marvel and created by Chris Matonti, J.D. Matonti, and Julia Coppola.

Wolfhard's first role was in the 2013 independent film Aftermath. After appearing in more independent films, such as The Resurrection, Wolfhard moved into roles on television shows "The 100" and "Supernatural."

In addition to acting and directing, Wolfhard has a passion for music and formed a garage-rock band called Calpurnia. Calpurnia released their debut EP "Scout" in June 2018. The band's first single, "City Boy," debuted at No. 23 on Billboard's Alternative Digital Song Chart and hit No. 1 on Spotify's Global Viral 50 playlist. During their three-year run, the band toured across North America and Europe. In the fall of 2019, Wolfhard and drummer Malcolm Craig formed The Aubreys, releasing their first official EP entitled "Soda & Pie" in March 2020 through the independent record label AWAL. During the pandemic, The Aubreys released several standalone singles, including "Smoke Bomb," "No Offerings," and "Sand in My Bed." The band also contributed "Getting Better (Otherwise)" to the soundtrack for The Turning. In November 2021, the Aubreys released their first full studio album, "Karaoke Alone." They performed for their first live audience at the renowned rock festival Shaky Knees in Atlanta and were featured on the cover of Alternative Press magazine. The Aubreys released their newest singles, titled "Running" and "Kato," in 2023.

Wolfhard also used his growing platform to host "Strange 80s," a benefit concert to raise funds for Sweet Relief, an organization which offers assistance to struggling musicians in need of medical care and healthcare.

Wolfhard resides in Vancouver, Canada.

A natural talent with a striking presence, Emmy nominee MCKENNA GRACE has established herself as one of Hollywood's most sought-after young talents. Her breakout performances in Marc Webb's Gifted opposite Chris Evans and Amazon's Troop Zero alongside Viola Davis paved the way for her Emmy nomination for her role in Season 4 of Hulu's acclaimed series "The Handmaid's Tale."

With Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Grace returns to the role she first played in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, directed by Jason Reitman.

Upcoming, Grace will star in Dank Kay's film Spider & Jessie alongside Jesse Williams and Dacre Montgomery. Recently, Grace starred in Nick Antosca's Friend of the Family for Peacock alongside Jake Lacy, Colin Hanks, and Anna Paquin. She also previously starred in The Bad Seed Returns for Lifetime; for that film, she also co-wrote the screenplay.

Additional credits include Crater, I, Tonya, Malignant, Captain Marvel, Annabelle Comes Home, Amityville: The Awakening, Netflix's "The Haunting of Hill House," and ABC's "Designated Survivor."

Grace is also a singer and songwriter; she debuted with her first EP in March 2023.

Grace resides in Los Angeles.

KUMAIL NANJIANI (Nadeem) is an Oscar^® and Emmy-nominated writer and critically acclaimed actor and comedian.

Nanjiani recently earned an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his compelling portrayal of Chippendales founder Somen "Steve" Banerjee in Hulu's limited series "Welcome to Chippendales." The series, which aired on November 22, 2022, delves into the true story of Banerjee, the visionary Indian American entrepreneur behind Chippendales. Nanjiani starred alongside Murray Bartlett, Juliette Lewis, and Andrew Rannels. He also secured a nomination for Best Actor in a Streaming Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the HCAs. The show earned five total Emmy nominations.

On the animation side, Nanjiani lent his voice to Migration, a Universal Pictures adventure-comedy that follows a family of ducks who convince its overprotective father to go on the vacation of a lifetime, during which their plans go awry. Migration was released on December 22, 2023.

Additionally, Nanjiani can be seen regularly doing stand-up shows around some of LA's greatest comedy theaters, including Largo at the Coronet, Hollywood Improv, and the Dynasty Typewriter. He will also be participating in this year's Netflix is a Joke Festival on May 4 at The Theater at Ace Hotel.

This spring, Nanjiani will begin shooting new James L. Brooks film, Ella McCay, alongside an all-star cast that Includes Emma Mackey, Woody Harrelson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Albert Brooks. The film will follow an idealistic young politician who juggles familial issues and a challenging work life while preparing to take over the job of her mentor, the state's longtime incumbent governor, and will be produced by 20^th Century.

Additional past works of Nanjiani include the Disney+ Star Wars prequel "Obi-Wan Kenobi" opposite Ewan McGregor. The series was directed by Deborah Chow, who helmed two episodes of "The Mandalorian" Season 1. Other cast members include Rupert Friend, Moses Ingram, Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, O'Shea Jackson Jr., and Benny Safdie. Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse reprise their prequel trilogy roles as young Luke Skywalker's Uncle Owen Lars and Aunt Beru.

Nanjiani starred in Marvel's widely acclaimed film Eternals, which was released on November 5, 2021. The richly diverse cast includes Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Don Lee and is directed by two-time Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Chloe Zhao.

Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon served as executive producers on the Apple TV+ series "Little America" with Lee Eisenberg, Alan Yang, and Joshua Bearman. Season 2 was released on December 9, 2022. Season 1 received nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards and BAFTA TV Awards. Each episode was inspired by true and poignant stories featured by Epic Magazine of immigrants in America covering politics and cultural division with a diverse group of emerging talent, bringing to life the funny, romantic, heartfelt, and surprising stories of immigrants in America. The show earned two nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards within the categories of Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series and Best New Scripted Series in addition to three nominations at the NAACP with two nominations for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series and a nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series.

In early 2020, while in quarantine, Nanjiani and his wife created their own podcast, "Staying In with Emily & Kumail," which was ranked among several Top 10 Podcasts lists in addition to receiving a People's Choice Award nomination. The podcast is a fun conversation between these two writers, where they advise on many things, including how to stay calm and avoid cabin fever, fun entertainment recommendations, etc. Proceeds from the podcast went to charities helping those affected by COVID-19.

In 2017, Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay for The Big Sick, in which Nanjiani starred alongside Holly Hunter, Zoe Kazan, and Ray Romano. The film was named one of the AFI's Top Films of the Year and won the Critic's Choice Award for Best Comedy, the Hollywood Film Award for Comedy Ensemble of the Year, and an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. Additionally, the film earned two Independent Spirit Award nominations, a Producer's Guild Award nomination, two SAG Award nominations, a Writer's Guild nomination, and Gotham Award nomination. Nanjiani also earned the Santa Barbara Film Festival's Virtuoso Award and the San Diego International Film Festival's Auteur Award; he was also named one of VARIETY's 10 Actors to Watch.

Nanjiani starred as Dinesh in the Emmy Award-winning HBO comedy series "Silicon Valley" opposite Thomas Middleditch, Martin Starr, and Zach Woods. Over the years, the series has won two Critics' Choice Awards for Best Comedy Series and has been named one of the AFI's TV Programs of the Year. Nanjiani also voiced Jesus on the Fox animated series Bless the Harts, with stars Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph. Nanjiani was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Star in a Drama Series for his appearance in Jordan Peele's new take on the original 1959 TV Series "The Twilight Zone."

Additional film credits include The Lovebirds, Stuber, Men In Black: International, Fist Fight, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, The Five-Year Engagement, and Central Intelligence. His vocal talents were heard voicing one of the ninja warriors in The Lego Ninjago Movie from Warner Bros. Additional television credits include: Comedy Central's "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail," IFC's "Portlandia," TNT's "Franklin & Bash," FOX's "The X-Files," and NBC's "Community."

PATTON OSWALT (Dr. Hubert Wartzki) continues to leave his distinctive imprint across all areas of entertainment, from his award-winning comedy specials to his many guest roles on television. His most recent comedy special "We All Scream" (which also marked his directorial debut) launched on Netflix in late 2022 and Oswalt was nominated for a Grammy for his comedy album. Last year, he also starred in the Magnolia Pictures comedy I Love My Dad, winner of the Grand Jury and Audience awards at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival.

Oswalt was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for his performance in Jason Reitman's film Young Adult, starring opposite Charlize Theron. In 2009, he also received critical acclaim for his performance in Robert Siegel's Big Fan; the film was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and Oswalt earned a Gotham Award nomination for his performance.

Oswalt has appeared in many films, including The Circle, alongside Tom Hanks, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Zoolander, both directed by Ben Stiller, Steven Soderbergh's The Informant with Matt Damon, and alongside Seth Rogen in Jody Hill's Observe and Report, as well as Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia and Todd Phillips' Starsky and Hutch.

Oswalt's past television work includes memorable roles on "Parks and Recreation," which brought him a TV Critics Choice Award, "A.P. Bio," "Veep," "United States of Tara," "Seinfeld" (his TV acting debut), and many more. He is also very well known for playing Spence on "The King of Queens" for nine seasons. Oswalt is also the narrator on ABC's hit comedy "The Goldbergs." He provided the voice for Remy the rat in Pixar's Oscar® winner Ratatouille, and his other voice credits include Max in The Secret Life of Pets 2, Sorry To Bother You, the SYFY series Happy!, Rick and Morty, Archer, and BoJack Horseman.

In 2020, Oswalt's Emmy-nominated Netflix special "I Love Everything" was widely applauded upon release, and he received a Grammy nomination for his comedy album of the same name. In 2017, he received Grammy and Emmy nominations for his album and Netflix special "Annihilation," which addresses his own devastating loss and dealing with the unexplainable, while making it all painfully funny. In 2016, he won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for his sixth comedy special "Talking for Clapping," and a Grammy Award in 2017 for his comedy album. He has been nominated for a total of six Grammys and four Emmys. Oswalt has shot eight TV specials and released seven critically acclaimed albums -- in 2009, Patton received his first Grammy nomination for his album "My Weakness Is Strong."

CELESTE O'CONNOR (Lucky) is a purpose-driven, service-aligned actor who jumped on the scene with the critically acclaimed indie film Selah and the Spades, which premiered at Sundance in 2019 and was distributed by Amazon spring 2020. The following year, the young star starred in Blumhouse's Freaky, starring alongside Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton; in that film, O'Connor stars as Nyla Chones, the cool, calm, and collected confidant tasked with the challenge of racing against the clock and a formidable predator.

O'Connor most recently starred opposite Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, and Isabela Merced in the Sony Pictures / Marvel film Madame Web.

Additional film credits include MGM's A Good Person, written and directed by Zach Braff, in which they starred alongside Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman, as well as Netflix's Irreplaceable You, and Paramount's The In Between and Wetlands. In Irreplaceable You, they play a young Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and in the independent feature Wetlands, they share the screen with Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jennifer Ehle, and Anthony Mackie.

O'Connor was born in Nairobi, Kenya before relocating with their family to Baltimore, Maryland as a young child. Developing a strong passion and thirst for knowledge, discovery, and enlightenment, O'Connor graduated summa cum laude from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in Global Public Health and Pre-Medicine. O'Connor is an advocate for inclusion and representation within the entertainment industry, and deeply rooted in the work of activism and resources for marginalized communities. In 2023, O'Connor founded Pedestal, a Brooklyn-based production company that specializes in immersive visual storytelling that shines a light on joyful Black experiences. Pedestal was born from a desire to share creative joy and restore agency to Black and Brown storytellers. They currently reside in Brooklyn, New York.

LOGAN KIM (Podcast) stepped into the limelight with his outstanding performance as Hershel Rhee in "The Walking Dead: Dead City," starring alongside Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan. His character brings a surly and rebellious demeanor that is reminiscent of his father Glen (Steven Yeun), instantly making him a fan favorite on many episodes.

Kim then went on to portray the Podcast -- who IGN called the "heart of the movie" -- in the blockbuster Ghostbusters: Afterlife. With the original cast members Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver returning, the film paves the way for the next generation of Busters -- Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and Celeste O'Connor alongside Logan -- to take up the mantle of saving the earth from the paranormal in the classic Ecto-1.

Born and raised in Texas, his artistic abilities have exploded since the age of 5. After seeing the Mission: Impossible movies, he knew he wanted to be a part of the mystery, action, stunts and excitement that films can create. In a local theater, he landed the role of Smee in "Peter and the Starcatcher." The director let him improv and share his thoughts to help the scenes flow, and this pivotal moment helped him realize he was born to act. He branched out and began dancing tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary, and hip hop for eight years. Within three years his dance skills grew to the competitive level. His love for art extends to 3D digital art, where he is currently working towards mastering.

Kim can also be seen in 2020's serialized remake of The Princess Bride on Roku, which featured celebrities at home during quarantine. Kim played The Grandson, originally played by Fred Savage.

Kim's father, an architect from Seoul, South Korea, moved to the U.S. for college. His mother, a nurse born in Texas, had the opportunity to let Logan chase his dream of acting, quickly met his manager, and the rest is history. Along with his dance troupe, he has assisted and performed in nursing homes and children's homes. He plans to continue to work with programs to help children with autism, as he and his family have personal experiences working with and taking care of those that are affected.

A whimsical master, JAMES ACASTER (Lars) has received acclaim from around the world, including a record-breaking five consecutive nominations for Best Comedy Show at the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. In 2017, he toured the country with a staggering three show trilogy, performing "Recognise," "Represent," and "Reset" consecutively over three nights in each venue. These three shows, along with "Recap," form his four-part Netflix series "Repertoire." It was the first of its kind, a stand-up miniseries with an overarching narrative, and Acaster is the first UK comic to shoot more than one Netflix Original special.

In 2019, Acaster completed a mammoth tour of his hugely successful show "Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999" around the UK, Australia, and America. The show was nominated for a Critics Choice Award after its release in 2022 and is now available to watch on his website. Acaster is currently touring internationally with his new show, "Hecklers Welcome."

As well as a celebrated standup, Acaster is a Sunday Times best-selling author, with three publications: Classic, Perfect Sound, and his most recent book, James Acaster's Guide to Quitting Social Media.

Acaster also has three hit podcasts: "Off Menu," which he hosts with Ed Gamble, "Perfect Sounds," and his latest release, "Springleaf," which he wrote and stars in.

ERNIE HUDSON (Winston Zeddemore) stars opposite Raymond Lee and Caitlin Bassett in the reboot of "Quantum Leap" on NBC, which just finished season two. The series follows a new team as they restart the Quantum Leap project in hope of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it. Hudson portrays a no-nonsense career military man who has to answer to his bosses, who won't be happy after hearing about the breach of protocol.

Hudson previously starred in Netflix's acclaimed drama series "Grace and Frankie" as the love interest of Lily Tomlin. He also stars and executive produces "The Family Business" for BET and guest starred in two episodes of STARZ's show "City on a Hill."

Other television credits include, "Modern Family," "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," "Law & Order," "Oz", and "LA's Finest," in which he portrayed Gabrielle Union's father. Hudson earned a Golden Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series for his performance in HBO's acclaimed prison drama "Oz."

His additional film credits include Miss Congeniality, with Sandra Bullock and Michael Caine; Jay Craven's A Stranger in the Kingdom; The Crow, with Brandon Lee; Curtis Hanson's The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, opposite Matt McCoy and Julianne Moore; and Sugarwheels, with Vincent Maeder, and Navah Rapharl.

The multi-faceted actor is probably best known for his work on the enduring franchise Ghostbusters, in which he portrayed Winston Zeddemore, one of the four Ghostbusters. He recently reprised the role in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

His additional credits include Redemption Day, Spaceman, Fatal Secrets, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous, Collision Course, "Ballers," "Blue Bloods," "Twin Peaks," "Graves," "Once Upon a Time," "Mob City," "Scandal," "Grey's Anatomy," and "White Collar."

Ernie enjoys spending time with his wife, children, and grandchildren. He also prides himself in staying fit and healthy. The Michigan native resides between Los Angeles and Lake Arrowhead.

BILL MURRAY (Peter Venkman) reprises his role as Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire after playing the role in Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Murray will co-star opposite Naomi Watts in The Friend, the adaptation of Sigrid Nunez's award-winning novel. He most recently appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

His many feature film credits include nine films for director Wes Anderson, including The French Dispatch, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Rushmore. He has also starred in The Jungle Book, St. Vincent, Lost in Translation, Groundhog Day, Scrooged, Tootsie, Stripes, and Caddyshack.

For his performance in Lost in Translation, Murray earned a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, as well as an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actor. He also received Golden Globe nominations for his roles in Ghostbusters, Rushmore, Get Low, Hyde Park on Hudson, St. Vincent, and the HBO miniseries "Olive Kitteridge," for which he won his second Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie.

In 1977, Murray became a regular cast member on "Saturday Night Live," for which he earned his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety or Music Series.

Murray was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at The John F. Kennedy Center in 2016.

DAN AYKROYD (Ray Stantz / Executive Producer) was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on July 1, 1952 (Canada Day) to parents of mixed heritage -- a French Canadian Catholic mother and an English Canadian Anglican father. Both worked as public servants for the Canadian Federal Government. His maternal grandfather was a career Royal Canadian Mounted Police Staff Sergeant. This stimulated in Aykroyd a lifelong interest in law enforcement. He majored in sociology studying criminology and deviant psychology at Carleton University for four years. Writing papers on outlaw motorcycle gangs and Michigan Cosa Nostra families, he also held a summer position as a Clerk 5 with the Canadian Penitentiary Service in the Solicitor-General's office. There, Aykroyd composed a standard manual for the deployment of correctional personnel in emergency situations. He also had jobs with the Canadian Department of Transport as an airport runway load-tester and at the Department of Public Works as a highway surveyor and flex-track/ATV assistant mechanic in the sub-Arctic.

Aykroyd moved full time to Toronto in 1972 to work for Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman at City-TV. In 1970, he first performed on CBC network television as a writer/actor for producer Lorne Michaels in the Great Canadian Humour Test TV Special.

Aykroyd was awarded a Doctorate in Literature (Honoris Causa) from Carleton University in 1997 for recognition of his "Saturday Night Live" writing and for the nine produced screenplays on which he shares co-writing credits: Love at First Sight, The Blues Brothers, Spies Like Us, Dragnet, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Coneheads, Nothing But Trouble (Valkenvania), and Blues Brothers 2000.

Aykroyd is also a Grammy and an Oscar® nominee. The Grammy nomination was for Best New Artist 1979 for the triple-platinum selling "Briefcase Full of Blues" record album, which he recorded with his then-partner John Belushi. The Oscar® nomination was for his performance as Best Supporting Actor in the Best Picture of 1989, Driving Miss Daisy. The films with which Aykroyd has had principal associations have grossed close to one billion dollars worldwide. He was awarded an Emmy for his writing on the "Saturday Night Live" episode starring Sissy Spacek.

Aykroyd was invested with the Order of Canada, which is given to prominent Canadians who "desire to make a better country." He joined the pioneering Canadian Union of Postal Workers as an active member in 1969. He is a member of the Association of Canadian Television Radio Artists, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild of America and is a subscribing benefactor to the American Society for Psychical Research and the Mutual U.F.O. Network.

In 1993, he co-ventured as an investor with the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe International, Isaac Tigrett, to open U.S. outlets of the famous establishment House of Blues. HOB Entertainment Inc. was founded in 1993 by Tigrett, Aykroyd, and Laurence Bilzerian. As Elwood Blues, Aykroyd hosted the ten-year-running House of Blues Radio Hour, which was syndicated on 180 radio stations through the United Stations Radio Networks. House of Blues was sold to Live Nation Entertainment in 2006.

Aykroyd entered the spirits business in the US marketplace in 2008 with his with his Crystal Head Vodka, which is produced in Newfoundland. CHV won the Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirit Competition. The award -inning vodka is renowned for being filtered through Herkimer diamonds and contains no additives. The beautiful glass bottle was designed by famed artist John Alexander and is made by the renowned Bruni Glass Company.

Aykroyd can currently be seen in the Fox Nation series "The History of the World in Six Glasses" as well as "The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd" for The History Channel, which he executive produced.

ANNIE POTTS (Janine Melnitz) returned to series television in the highly anticipated prequel "Young Sheldon" from creators Chuck Lorre and Steve Molaro. On the CBS hit comedy, her character Meemaw ranks among the many iconic female roles Potts has created, including the wonderful Mary Jo Shively from "Designing Women." Her work in "Love & War" garnered her an Emmy nomination, and with "Any Day Now," she scored two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. In addition, she has played recurring roles on "Chicago Med," "Law & Order: SVU," and "The Fosters," as well as guest starring on "Scandal," "Grey's Anatomy," "Major Crimes," and "Two and a Half Men." Potts also starred in the Hallmark movies The Music Teacher and Freshman Father, along with Marry Me for Lifetime.

Potts reprised her role as the memorable Janine Melnitz in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, as well as the loveable Bo Peep in the highly successful fourth installment of Toy Story, which won an Oscar® for Best Animated Feature. She originated the character in the first Toy Story and appeared again in Toy Story 2. Her numerous other feature film credits include Pretty in Pink, Texasville (Peter Bogdanovich's sequel to The Last Picture Show), Jumpin' Jack Flash, Who's Harry Crumb?, King of the Gypsies, and Corvette Summer, for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination. Other recent credits include Happy Anniversary for Netflix along with Izzy Gets the F@#k Across Town and Humor Me, both of which debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Potts made her Broadway debut in Yasmina Reza's Tony Award winning black comedy "God of Carnage" and also appeared in the long running "Pippin." She appeared in off-Broadway productions of "The Vagina Monologues," "Diva," "Love Letters," "Charley's Aunt," "The Merchant of Venice," "A Little Night Music," "Cymbeline," and "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds." On the West Coast, she received rave reviews for her performance of a distraught wife dealing with her husband's suicide in "Aftermath." The play received the LA Times' Critics Choice Ovation Recommendation.

Born in Nashville and raised in Kentucky, Potts was the youngest of three girls. Interested in stage and film at an early age, she received her BFA in Theater from Stephens College in Missouri where she's currently a visiting professor of Drama and a dedicated Board Member. Potts is also an ambassador for White Pony Express, an organization that feeds and clothes those in need in the Bay Area. Additionally, she wrote a children's book about a young boy named Kemarley Brooks titled Kemarley of Anguilla, with all proceeds going to the Arijah Children's Foundation, an important cause in Anguilla.

Furthermore, Potts, along with her husband director/producer Jim Hayman, joined another industry couple to form All Are One, an organization created to alleviate the suffering of so many folks during the Coronavirus pandemic. Their focus is to gather donations to gift anonymously to people in need. The initiative kicked off in Northern California and is now expanding across the country.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

An Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker, GIL KENAN (Director / Co-Writer / Executive Producer) has directed Monster House, City of Ember, Poltergeist, and A Boy Called Christmas. For Monster House, Kenan was nominated for an Academy Award® and Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. Kenan co-wrote and executive produced the hit film Ghostbusters: Afterlife with Jason Reitman, with whom he has a first look producing deal at Sony Pictures.

JASON REITMAN (Co-Writer / Producer) is an Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker. He made his feature film debut with the 2006 Sundance hit Thank You for Smoking. He notably earned Academy Award® nominations for directing Juno and Up in the Air, the latter of which earned Reitman a Golden Globe Award, WGA Award and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. His other films include Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Young Adult, Labor Day, Men, Women and Children, Tully -- his third collaboration with Diablo Cody and second with Charlize Theron -- and The Front Runner. Upcoming, Reitman is gearing up to start production on the highly anticipated SNL 1975, portraying the opening night of the landmark variety show. Reitman produced four seasons of the Hulu comedy series "Casual" through his Right of Way Films. He also executive produced the Academy Award®-winning film Whiplash and the Jean-Marc Vallee-directed Demolition through the production company; he also served as a producer on the cult hit Jennifer's Body. Recently, Reitman made headlines as the leader of a coalition of over 35 filmmakers acquiring and preserving the historic Village Theater in Westwood.

IVAN REITMAN (Producer) was the creative force behind some of the most successful and groundbreaking comedies of the twentieth century. His movies are beloved by audiences around the world and include Ghostbusters, Animal House, Meatballs, Stripes, Twins, Space Jam, Beethoven, Twins, Six Days Seven Nights, Dave, Road Trip, Old School, Kindergarten Cop, I love You Man, Disturbia, Hitchcock, Draft Day, as well as the Oscar^®-nominated Up in the Air with his son Jason Reitman and the Emmy-nominated television show "Workin' Moms" with his daughter Catherine Reitman.

Reitman was the child of holocaust survivors who emigrated from Czechoslovakia when he was four years old. He studied music at McMaster University, but soon turned his talents to film and theater.

He began his career with the low-budget horror comedy Cannibal Girls, starring Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin and found early success as a producer working with a young David Cronenberg.

Reitman then headed to New York City and produced the Broadway hit "The Magic Show," starring McMaster friend Doug Henning. He continued producing for the stage with the off-Broadway hit "The National Lampoon Show," which featured future stars John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis.

While working with National Lampoon, Reitman began developing an adaptation of their comedy Yearbook which led to the creation of Animal House. The sensational look at fraternity life became a generation defining hit and the highest grossing comedy of all time.

Reitman made his comedic directorial debut with Meatballs, a summer camp romp and surprise hit at the box office. This success led to a string of blockbusters with Harold Ramis and Bill Murray including Stripes and Ghostbusters that would define comedy of that era.

Reitman also directed three comedies with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, and Junior that would reshape perception of the action star. Twins was notably Schwarzenegger's first film to break a hundred million dollars at the box office and is credited to humanizing the movie star who went on to become the Governor of California.

As a director, over four decades, Reitman left his mark on the entertainment landscape. From 1979's Meatballs to 2014's Draft Day, his work demonstrated a craft of storytelling and deep well of humanity that consistently made the world laugh and care deeply about unlikely heroes.

As a producer, Reitman's filmography was equally successful and seemingly touched every chapter of life, from summer camp to boot camp, frat house to the white house, inter-dimensional basketball tournaments to supernatural ghost extermination.

Ivan Reitman's collective works have been nominated for Emmys, Tonys, Grammys, and Academy Awards. In 1984, Reitman was honored as Director of the Year by the National Association of Theater Owners. In November of 1994, Reitman became the third director honored by Variety magazine in a special Billion Dollar Director issue. At the end of 2000, Reitman's films Animal House and Ghostbusters were honored as two of this past century's funniest movies by the American Film Institute.

Reitman was married to Genevieve Robert for over 40 years. Together, they have three children and lived in Santa Barbara, California.

JASON BLUMENFELD (Producer) is a producer whose working relationship with director Jason Reitman spans over 20 years. He is currently producing Jason Reitman's SNL 1975, an upcoming Columbia Pictures film, capturing the 90 minutes before the first episode aired and television history was made. Further credits as a producer include Home Movie: The Princess Bride for Quibi as well as Josh Friedlander's film Holly Slept Over with American High. Blumenfeld also served as executive producer of Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Front Runner. Jason Blumenfeld is a long-standing member of the Directors Guild of America as well as the Producers Guild of America. When not on location, Blumenfeld resides in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

ERIC STEELBERG's (Director of Photography) fascination with movies began in childhood with the arrival of home video. He began to realize he was relating not only to story, but also the look and feel of the movies. This is where his love for film truly began.

In 2006, Steelberg broke out into the feature film world with Quinceañera, a small indie which earned both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prizes at the Sundance Film Festival. Since then, Steelberg has enjoyed collaborating with director Jason Reitman on nine films, including Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Juno, Up in the Air, and The Front Runner, starring Hugh Jackman. Juno and Up in The Air both garnered Academy Award® nominations for Best Picture.

In 2017, he saw Paramount Pictures' Baywatch released to broad international enjoyment. In addition to those films, he has also photographed the Golden Globe and Spirit Award nominated (500) Days of Summer. In 2019, he served as cinematographer on Dolemite Is My Name for director Craig Brewer.

Always searching for diversity, Steelberg also tried his hand in television by shooting the pilot for Showtime's "Billions," ABC's "The Good Doctor," season two of HBO's "Eastbound and Down," and pilots as well as several episodes of the Marvel series "Hawkeye" and the Star Wars series "Ahsoka." When not involved in feature films, he fills his schedule shooting commercials for some of the biggest corporations in the world. Occasionally, this work takes him to locations around the globe.

In 2012, Steelberg became the youngest member ever invited for membership into the American Society of Cinematographers, in which he serves on several committees and the Board of Governors. He has been a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences since 2011 and a member of the Executive Committee, Cinematographers Branch. When time allows, Steelberg has also spent time participating in educational outreach by making himself available for school visits and master classes. He is born, raised, and currently resides in Los Angeles.

EVE STEWART (Production Designer) is a native Londoner who worked as a theatre designer for many years before going back to the Royal College of Art to study Architecture whilst she had her two daughters. She graduated her course with a Distinction.

Stewart went on to design several architectural projects as well as a number of international art exhibitions, but always continued to design for theatre.

After designing a play for the director Mike Leigh, Stewart was asked to art direct on his controversial feature Naked (1993), progressing to production designer on Leigh's Topsy Turvy (1999) and Vera Drake (2004).

As production designer, Stewart has collaborated with director and friend Tom Hooper on several titles, including The Damned United (2009), The King's Speech (2010), Les Miserables (2012), The Danish Girl (2015), and Cats (2019).

As established member of the British Film Industry, Eve has been nominated four times by the Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Production Design and five times by BAFTA for Best Production Design, winning for Les Miserables in 2012. Other Academy Award nominations were for Topsy Turvy (1999), The King's Speech (2010), The Danish Girl (2015) and Cats (2019).

In addition to her film accolades, Stewart's work in television was recognised by the Primetime Emmy Awards winning Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie for Elizabeth I (2005) and nominated in the same category for Upstairs Downstairs (2010).

Other film credits include Gore Verbinski's A Cure for Wellness (2016), Paul McGuigan's Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017), Fede Alverez's The Girl in the Spiders Web (2018), and Chloe Zhao's Eternals (2021).

Stewart's work will be seen in Sony Pictures' upcoming Kraven the Hunter, directed by JC Chandor and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, and Russell Crowe.

NATHAN ORLOFF (Editor) has quickly amassed an impressive array of credits and gained significant acclaim for his work on award-winning projects. Orloff got his start editing a number of short films for directors including Morgan Dameron and Zao Wang. From there, he worked as an assistant editor on J.J. Abrams' Star Trek: Into Darkness, as well as a Digital Intermediate Supervisor on Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He has worked as an associate or additional editor on such projects as Tully and The Front Runner, both directed by Jason Reitman, 10 Cloverfield Lane directed by Dan Trachtenberg, and Overlord and Samaritan, both directed by Julius Avery. More recently, Orloff served as editor on Christopher Winterbauer's WYRM, Natalie Morales' Plan B, Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Chad Stahelski's John Wick: Chapter 4.

SHANE REID (Editor) is a partner in the award-winning post house Exile Edit in Santa Monica, alongside partner/editor Kirk Baxter. Reid has worked with top brands including Apple, Adidas, BMW, Hennessy, Audi, and the Olympics. Winning multiple awards and being nominated for an Emmy and Cannes Lion in the commercial space, he quickly become one of the most trusted short form editors, working with such directors as Damien Chazelle, Terrence Malick, Andrew Dominik, Jason Reitman, Craig Gillespie, Blake Lively, John Hillcoat, and Chloe Zhao. He's also cut multiple music videos for Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Florence + The Machine, and Kamasi Washington.

In 2016 Reid edited the feature documentary One More Time with Feeling, directed by Andrew Dominik, which followed musician Nick Cave recording his studio album "Skeleton Tree" while grieving the tragic loss of his son. The film was shot in 3D black and white by Alwin Kuchler and Benoit Debie and premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it garnered critical acclaim and was picked up by Picture House for a theatrical release.

In 2018, Reid edited on the film A Hidden Life for director Terrence Malick. He recently cut the short film I'm on Fire for director Michael Spiccia, which premiered at the 2022 Toronto and Clermont-Ferrand International Festivals. His next film will be Deadpool & Wolverine.

ALEXIS FORTE (Costume Designer) was born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, and moved to Miami at the age of 10. As a child, she trained as a ballet dancer at Miami City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School, and Alvin Ailey, with dance being her gateway into costumes. Forte pivoted from dance into visual arts in college, when she went to London to study at the prestigious Central Saint Martins. Immersed into the world of theatre and film there, she found her calling. Upon graduation, Forte moved to New York City and started her career. She came up as an Assistant Costume Designer working on films such as Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Front Runner, Drew Goddard's Bad Times at the El Royal, Darren Aronofsky's Mother! and The Whale, and Steven Spielberg's The Post, to name a few. In addition, Forte was on Jacqueline Durran's costume design team for Greta Gerwig's Little Women, which won Best Costume Design at the 2020 Oscars®.

Forte kicked off her own design career with IFC Films' Resurrection, which premiered at Sundance 2022. She followed that with Smile for Paramount Pictures, Miguel Wants to Fight for Hulu; and Michael Shannon's directorial debut, Eric LaRue, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2023. Forte also designs for the stage, most recently making her Broadway debut with Stephen Adly Guirgis's "Between Riverside and Crazy," the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winner for Drama. That production of "Between Riverside and Crazy" was nominated for a 2023 Tony for Best Play. Forte is also a proud member of LAByrinth Theater Company.

Two-time Academy Award® nominee RUTH MYERS (Costume Designer) was brought up in Manchester, England. She trained at St. Martin's School of Art in London, then went to work at the Royal Court Theatre on a student grant, followed by a year working in repertory. Myers next returned to the Royal Court, contributing to over 15 productions, which included John Osborne's "Hotel in Amsterdam," "Time Present," and David Hare's "Stag."

Her first professional assignment was sewing sequins all night on costumes for the great designer Anthony Powell. During this period, Myers worked as assistant to the legendary Sophie Devine, who, as Motley, had created the costumes for many of the early English classic films, including director David Lean's Great Expectations. With her encouragement, Myers started to design for the theatre and then, beginning in 1967, for low-budget English films, including Smashing Time (now famous for its era-defining Mod look), A Touch of Class, Peter Medak's The Ruling Class, and The Twelve Chairs.

After being persuaded to come to America by Gene Wilder, she collaborated with him on The World's Greatest Lover, The Woman in Red, and Haunted Honeymoon. She then designed Joseph Losey's Galileo and The Romantic Englishwoman. It was on this film that she met her late husband, noted production designer Richard MacDonald. As a couple, they enjoyed a dynamic collaboration on films that include Sydney Pollack's The Firm, Fred Schepisi's Plenty and The Russia House, Norman Jewison's …And Justice for All, Ken Russell's Altered States, Jack Clayton's Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Barry Sonnenfeld's The Addams Family, for which Myers received an Academy Award® nomination.

Since 1993, she has designed more than 30 films, including Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential (BAFTA Nominee), Douglas McGrath's Emma (for which she earned her second Academy Award® nomination), Nicholas Nickleby, Infamous, Taylor Hackford's Proof of Life, Mimi Leder's Deep Impact, and John Curran's The Painted Veil. Other films include City of Ember, directed by Gil Kenan, and The Golden Compass, directed by Chris Weitz, for which she won a Costume Designers Guild Award.

In 2003, Myers designed the pilot episode of HBO's "Carniva?le," creating the look for the continuing series and garnering an Emmy and a Costume Designers Guild Award.

Additional credits include "Big Love" (pilot), Dorian Gray, Cemetery Junction, The Deep Blue Sea, "Hemingway & Gellhorn" (Emmy and CDG Nominee), Mortdecai, The Legend of Tarzan, Mute, "L.A. Confidential" (pilot), The Red Sea Diving Resort, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, and A Boy Called Christmas.

The Costume Designers Guild honored Myers with a Career Achievement Award in 2007.

That's it. I have made a PDF copy of the original document, in case you want to print it out. Be forewarned, it's 50 pages!

If you still have not purchased tickets to see Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, do so now. If you'd rather wait a few months and buy it on physical media, pre-order listings have just gone live at Amazon: Standard 4K/Blu-ray, Steelbook 4K/Blu-ray (Parkas in Front of Firehouse), Blu-ray/DVD, and DVD.

There will also be sets containing Afterlife and Frozen Empire: 4K/Blu-ray with Ice Mold, Blu-ray, and DVD.

Walmart has a few exclusives: Steelbook Blu-ray/DVD (Pop Art-ish Style), and 4K/Blu-Ray with Skateboard.