Having been resistant for many years, it came as something of a surprise last month when it was finally confirmed that Bill Murray would be making a cameo appearance in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot. However, according to Murray, once Feig and his cast were in place, the decision became a lot easier.

“I like those girls a lot,” said Murray to Vulture. “I mean, I really do. They are tough to say no to. And Paul is a real nice fellow.” Not only that, but it had also crossed Murray’s mind that his non-involvement might hinder the film’s progress… “I thought about it for a very long time. Like, many, many months. No, that’s not right. I was seriously thinking about this for years, really… It kept eating at me, and I really respect those girls. And then I started to feel like if I didn’t do this movie, maybe somebody would write a bad review or something, thinking there was some sort of disapproval [on my part].”

“They have such a jolly group,” he concludes, “and they are going to have great success with this project. I didn’t want to overshadow [them] or anything, and I feel really good about it.”

The film would probably have managed okay without Murray, but there’s little debate everybody would much rather have him on board than not. Directed by Feig and co-starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon, Ghostbusters will open in the UK and US on July 15, 2016.

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