By Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN —Ernie Hudson has enjoyed a long and impressive career in films and television shows, but one of his most beloved and popular appearances came in “Ghostbusters.” Now the 75-year-old Hudson is enjoying being in the new “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which opened last week to an almost five million dollar payday on Thursday night, and continues to do well in theaters. Hudson told the Hollywood Reporter he didn’t anticipate that there would be another “Ghostbusters” project that featured him, but he’s quite pleased that he got another opportunity to star in the franchise, with this edition being directed by Jason Reitman and produced by his father Ivan Reitman.
“When Bill [Murray] and Danny [Aykroyd] and I put on our jumpsuits and our proton packs, it transported me back,” Hudson said.”It was cool — just how much I love that family. It was almost spiritual. I didn’t cry, but some of those emotions welled up in me. To see Jason who was running around the set at 6 years old and now he is at the helm of it; I was so proud of him. I am so appreciative that he established himself as a wonderful director-producer before stepping into Ghostbusters.”
“I had heard, although he never told me this, that Bill [in prior years] did not want to do another one. So I wrapped it up as this will never happen. Although we did [Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009)], and that was kind of cool. But we were never in the same room for that. I had accepted that [a film] was never going to happen.”
“Ghostbusters altered my life in a weird way. When you make a movie and it is successful, that has an impact, but Ghostbusters — it was a shift. And the way people responded to it and continue to respond to it — it crosses generations. I see little kids who just love the movie.”
But while pleased about the “Ghostbusters” role, Hudson doesn’t want to be typecast. To prevent that happening, he’s now playing a bad guy. He’s the the villainous L.C. Duncan on BET’s “The Family Business,” and also doubles as an executive producer.
“After Ghostbusters and other projects, I am thought of as a nice guy.” Hudson continues.”So to do L.C. Dunkin — here’s a guy who is complex. And it challenges me in a way because I don’t like looking at people be bad. I am a dad. I have four sons. And I know with my kids there are certain things that I would never do. And L.C. does it. So it is a bit of a stretch. The writers will come up with something and I have to realize that this is who the character is, it is not who I want the character to be. And that can sometimes be a challenge. So it’s been fun because the hardest part of acting for me is finding that true part of yourself that makes the character. I want a character who I am a little nervous about doing. And that is what L.C. does.”
He also discussed whether he’d return for the final season of Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie.”
“I think that was the plan. I talked to the producers and they were going to resolve that relationship with me and Frankie. And then the pandemic hit and everybody shut down. So I am not sure what is happening. I haven’t gotten a call from them. I loved doing that show. I work with a lot of people, but there aren’t many people who go, “Wow, I am a fan,” like with Jane [Fonda] and Lily [Tomlin]. To get a chance to play with them, to play that guy, it was cool.”