After years of rumors, there are finally plans for a new Ghostbusters movie, and it will be led by a female cast. Bridesmaids filmmaker Paul Feig said Wednesday that he will direct a reboot of the ghost-fighting comedy franchise starring “hilarious women.” Feig will direct the film for Sony Pictures, with The Heat screenwriter Katie Dippold writing the script. A sequel with the original cast was developed for years that would have reunited Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, with Ivan Reitman directing. But that never got off the ground, and Ramis died in February. Casting for the new movie has yet to be announced, but Feig has made three movies in a row with comedienne Melissa McCarthy, including the upcoming Spy.
The Vampire Diaries, known for its plot twists and supernatural lore, is doing some shape-shifting. The sixth season of The CW series about vampires, witches, werewolves and the humans who love (or hate them) has a change in tone, with more focus on characters. “What we tried to do … is boil the mythology down to a basic idea,” creative boss Julie Plec explained. She said the suspense and mystery is still there, “but it’s grounded in character development” and “very emotional.” In recent seasons, the show became a bit confusing to follow, even for the most loyal fans. “I think the writers knew they kind of needed to wipe out everything that had existed for the past five seasons and start with something fresh,” said Paul Wesley, who plays vampire Stefan Salvatore, “because it’s just so difficult to keep plotting twists and turns and getting yourself eventually stuck in a situation where it’s all gonna combust.” The Vampire Diaries stars Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, who play vampire brothers, and Nina Dobrev, who plays their love interest. “It’s really virtually impossible to maintain the same sort of story or love story for six seasons straight,” Wesley said. “Characters change and people grow. I think the show is incorporating that.” For the time being, Plec and her team have separated two of the main characters from the rest of the cast by having them trapped in a purgatorylike world. That’s been “the most fun,” she said. “Pairing characters that aren’t normally paired with each other and separating characters that the audience is so used to seeing together.”