Jason Reitman clarifies Ghostbusters comments as Paul Feig comes to his defense

Director Jason Reitman has responded to an online backlash after comments he made about his upcoming Ghostbusters sequel went viral earlier this week. 

Reitman, an Oscar-nominated director (Juno, Up in the Air) and son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, was a guest on comedian Bill Burr's podcast this week, and discussed the making of his upcoming follow-up to the original film. Specifically, Reitman talked about the level of detail put into the brief teaser that was made to announce the project, and the 1980s technology used to give it that classic Ghostbusters feel. In the process, he said this: 

“We are, in every way, trying to go back to the original technique and hand the movie back to the fans."

That comment provoked widespread criticism on social media because it seemed to imply that Ghostbusters had somehow been taken away from "the fans," at least in part by Paul Feig's 2016 all-female reboot that prompted anger among a contingent of fans upon its release nearly three years ago. After seeing the concern online that he was somehow stoking this division within fandom through his comments, Reitman attempted to clarify things via Twitter.

Reitman didn't set out to bash the 2016 Ghostbusters film while talking about his own project. In his full comments he was much more interested in talking about working hard to make the new film feel like the original in terms of technique, but his wording sparked a new (if small) fire amid a fandom that still remembers the powder keg that was Feig's reboot, and the number of people who were angry over the idea of an all-female team. 

As far as Feig's concerned, though, all is well. He responded to Reitman's tweet with one of his own early Thursday morning. 

So, the two most recent Ghostbusters directors are at peace with one another. That might not quell the fan anger on either side of the debate regarding Feig's film, or whatever fan anger might emerge over Reitman's own approach in the coming months, but it's something.

Reitman's Ghostbusters film arrives summer 2020.