If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call?
The correct answer is Ghostbusters, and June 8 marks the 32nd anniversary of the first movie in the franchise that introduced us to a wacky group of paranormal scientists who must save the world from the ultimate evil of Zuul.
That movie left its mark on pop culture, and even today, 32 years later, fans still quote lines from the film, cosplay as Ghostbusters characters and worship the almighty that is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
To honor the anniversary of this iconic movie, here are five fun facts about the franchise.
1. Real Paranormal Studies And Events Inspired The Movie
Although much of Ghostbusters seems ridiculously funny and highly improbable, the idea for the first movie came from actual supernatural research and studies.
"In about 1981, I read an article on quantum physics and parapsychology in The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research," Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd said to Esquire. " And it was like, bang — that's it."
However, that wasn't completely it, as Aykroyd also threw in some of his family's history because his great-grandfather was a spiritualist and his mother claimed she saw ghosts.
2. Sigourney Weaver's Audition Was Weird
Actress Sigourney Weaver was so desperate to do a comedy that, when she went into her audition for Ghostbusters, she didn't deliver a single word of dialogue. Instead, she started barking and snarling like a dog.
"I remember Sigourney coming in to audition, so elegant and tall, an extraordinarily smart woman, and she said: 'You know, I think when Dana Barrett is possessed she should turn into a dog herself,'" Reitman said to the Guardian. "She then got on all fours and started howling like a dog on my coffee table, and I was just fascinated."
Needless to say, her performance was effective, and she got the part of Dana Barrett.
3. Very Little of Ghostbusters Was Filmed in New York
Ghostbusters feels like a movie all about New York City, but the city only served as actual exterior shots in most scenes fans see onscreen. The cast and crew only spent a few weeks in the Big Apple, with the rest of the film getting shot on a Los Angeles soundstage, although the interior of the Ghostbusters fire station was actually an abandoned fire station in California.
4. The Ecto-1 Was One Of A Kind
The 1959 Cadillac ambulance that served as the Ectomobile was one of a kind, and because the production of Ghostbusters was so rushed (with just one year to put the entire film together), there was only one. That became a problem because the car eventually broke down at the end of a scene where it drove across the Manhattan Bridge. Fortunately, that happened late in the production, but they couldn't use the car after that.
5. The Movie's Production Angered Isaac Asimov
One particular New York City shot created a ruckus for New York residents, including noted science fiction author Isaac Asimov. For one scene in front of Dana's apartment building, the production shut down an area that disrupted Manhattan traffic. Many New Yorkers started complaining, including Asimov, who confronted Aykroyd on the set and told him that they were "inconveniencing" him.
