Paul Feig has got a tough job on his hands trying to win round the Ghostbusters fanbase since the announcement that he’s rebooting the franchise with an all-female cast. The film has been met with a lot of negativity online, but that hasn’t bothered Feig yet.

“We’re not recreating the old movie, but we want to do just enough fun nods that the fans will go, ‘Oh, okay, they’re acknowledging that the other movie existed,'” Feig has told Empire. “I like to watch parodies, but I don’t want to do them because they’re too referential. Comedy that’s too referential has such a short shelf life, whereas comedy that’s based around characters will be relatable 2000 years from now because people won’t change that much.”

The Bridesmaids director has also confirmed that his Ghostbusters will once again be set in New York. “To me it’s such a New York movie and the biggest sin would be to pull it out of there,” Feig said. “I just love New York and, selfishly, I just want to shoot in New York.”

“A lot of people ask why I didn’t create my own thing, but Ghostbusters never ran out of steam, it’s such a great idea,” Feig adds. “It’s such a fun franchise so why not bring it to a new generation? The old movie is never going to not exist. It’s not my plan to erase every copy! Hopefully they can all live together.”

There has been no official word or release date set for Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot, but he is currently working on the script with The Heat co-writer Katie Dippold. According to sources, Melissa McCarthy (St. Vincent), Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect) and Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1) have met with Feig about starring in the movie while Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Emma Stone (Easy A) and Linda Carderlini (Freaks and Geeks) have also been rumoured.