Kristen Wiig

#whoyougonnacall pic.twitter.com/hnrSjhCqSl

— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) July 10, 2015

Back in July when the all-female Ghostbusters reboot was announced, a certain segment (a large one) protested like crazy. They said stuff about how their childhood was desecrated. Many of the objections were about the reboot being unnecessary, but some were upset that the film would be a girly affair. Some of same dudes who were all for Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum crossing the streams. Even Ernie Hudson, who played Winston in the original films, said the fans didn’t want to see women in the suits unless they were “sexy” enough. Ernie said this without a trace of irony and as if he and Dan Aykroyd were stunning specimens back in the day.

The backlash was truly immense, and director Paul Feig grew pretty profane on Twitter because he was so angry that his cast was being bashed. I don’t blame Feig at all. You can read his very NSFW tweets right here. The cast felt the pressure too, and now Kristen Wiig is talking. She’s promoting Nasty Baby, which is a drama where Wiig plays a nurse who’s trying to conceive a baby with two gay men. The neighbors give them all a hard time. It sounds artsy and dramatic. Anyway, here’s what Kristen had to say about the backlash:

Ever since the success of “Bridesmaids” there’s been a conversation happening, and it came back this summer with both “Spy” and “Trainwreck” …
You’re not going to ask me the “women in comedy” question, are you?

In a roundabout way. Why do you think the question keeps getting asked? What about it hasn’t been answered?
I think the fact that people keep asking it implies that it’s something we need to explain or defend. If [people] would watch movies or look at comedy and see how many talented, funny women are out there and have been since the beginning of time, people would stop asking that. The other side of it is we’re still not there as far as opportunities. But people are doing the work.

I also feel obligated to ask you something about “Ghostbusters.”
Sure. I may not be able to answer, but that’s not my fault.

Have you ever made a movie that had so much attention and even controversy attached to it as you were making it?
No. And the fact there was so much controversy because we were women was surprising to me. Some people said some really not nice things about the fact that there were women. It didn’t make me mad, it just really bummed me out. We’re really honoring those movies.

[From LA Times]

See, Wiig is correct. No journalist would have derailed an interview with Channing or Jonah to ask whether they felt good about replacing the male leads in the original film. Nope. Those bros would have been heartily congratulated by all as they likely stomped all over Bill Murray’s stunning legacy (love you, Bill!). The women are getting all sorts of flack, and it’s just ridiculous. The ladies will bring the funny like crazy. Will it be as amazing as the first Ghostbusters? Probably not because sequels and reboots rarely recapture lightning in a bottle, but give the women a chance.

Photos courtesy of Paul Feig on Twitter & WENN

New York premiere of 'Welcome To Me'
Met Gala - 'China: Through The Looking Glass'
George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin
European Premiere of "The Martian"