Ernie Hudson is opening up about the psychological effect Ghostbusters had on him.
In an interview with SiriusXM’s Gary Dell’Abate and Rahsaan Rogers on The Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, Hudson explained that while he had so much love and appreciation for Ivan Reitman and his fellow Ghostbusters, the studio was a different story.
“I was the guy who was brought in, and so finding my place in the middle of that — and they were all welcoming and inclusive,” the actor recalled of joining the cast. “The studio wasn’t, and the studio continued not to be. So it made it very, very difficult because I was a part of it, but then I very selectively was pushed aside.”
Hudson shared an example on the radio show of how the studio wasn’t very supportive, pointing out that he wasn’t on the movie posters when they came out.
“It took a long time. I went to the 30th-anniversary release of the movie and all the posters are three guys,” he continued. “Now I know the fans see it differently, and I’m so thankful for the fans because the fans basically identified with Winston, especially young, I don’t want to say minority kids, but a lot of kids.”
The actor explained that with current negotiations for a new Ghostbusters movie that’s set to begin filming in March, he’s making sure he isn’t seen as an “add-on.”
“If I’m going to do it, it has to make sense,” Hudson said. “When you start out in the business, I was always told it’s almost impossible to succeed. But if you get in a major movie from a major studio and it comes out and it opens number one, it will change your career. Well, Ghostbusters didn’t do any of that for me. I was working pretty nonstop, I did Ghostbusters, and it was two and a half years before I got another movie.”
He went on to explain that the role of Winston in the movie changed from when he originally got the script to when they actually began filming. At first, his character was introduced at the very beginning. By the time production rolled around, Winston came in halfway through.
“It wasn’t an easy road. Ghostbusters, I would say, it was probably the most difficult movie I ever did just from the psychological perspective,” he continued. “All those things…It definitely felt deliberate. And I’m still not trying to take it personally.”
Hudson concluded, “Anything bad, if you’re African American in this country, anything bad happens to you, you can always blame it on because I’m Black. You don’t want to go there. That’s the last thing I want to do…I got nothing bad to say about anybody, but it was hard. It took me 10 years to get past that and enjoy the movie and just embrace the movie. Ghostbusters was really hard to make peace with it.”
