Chris Hemsworth cast in new ‘Ghostbusters’ as receptionist=the best
We were all kinds of excited when the female Ghostbusters reboot was announced, and even more excited when the casting of those lady Ghostbusters was announced (be still our hearts Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Amy McKinnon and Leslie Jones), and now the excitement train just keeps chugging along down the tracks as Ghostbusters reboot director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy, this man can do no wrong) just announced that Chris Hemsworth is going to play the firehouse receptionist!
Feig made the announcement, as a modern-day director does, with a pic and a sly hashtag on Twitter:
As the Guardian reports, Hemsworth was offered the role earlier on in the process, but turned it down because the part was too small (your high school drama teacher was right, “There are no small parts, only small actors,” but the memo doesn’t always get to movie stars), so Feig along with his screenwriter Katie Dippold (who wrote the screenplays for both The Heat and The Heat 2) beefed up the part and now Hemsworth has said yes. Oh happiest of days!
Make no mistake, we LOVED Annie Potts as the receptionist in the original Ghostbusters, obligatory nostalgic photo below.
That said, this is an all new Ghostbusters with an all new message. In the original Ghostbusters, it was the men who investigated the paranormal while the women were relegated to support system roles. In this new Ghostbusters, those paranormal responsibilities fall squarely on female shoulders, so it makes sense to give a man a support system role.
It’s particularly awesome to see this role is played by an actor who typically runs around all muscle-y and cape-clad fighting all the intergalactic Big Bads (see every Thor and Avengers movie ever). This kind of casting says that a man can fit the traditional hero mold and, rather than standing front and center, take a few steps back and reinvent what it means to be a sidekick. As important as it is to see that women can be heroes and lead, it’s equally important to see that men can follow and support. That’s how we’re going to make this gender equality thing actually happen.
We love the smart and progressive casting of this Ghostbusters reboot and we are counting the SECONDS until this baby hits theaters!
