While many chalked up the fierce vitriol surrounding the new all-female Ghostbusters movie to sexism, Ivan Reitman, who is producing it and directed the original, believes it is simply down to annoyance with the franchise being rebooted at all.

“I think there’s way too much talk about gender [when it comes to this film],” he told Mashable. “I think that many of the people who were complaining were actually lovers of the [original] movie, not haters of women.”

Reitman went on to confess that, given the fondness for the 1984 Bill Murray-starring original, a new version was always going to be an uphill struggle.

“I think the lovers of the [original] movie felt there was some kind of sacrilege to re-do it, because it was a seminal part of their moviegoing experience as a 7- or 8-year-old,” he said. “That’s something that can’t be minimized, and I totally respect that love.”