[Winston1986]

Eddie Murphy was who they originally wanted for the role of Winston. But Eddie Murphy refused to accept the role because he was doing Beverley Hills Cop. And from what I have heard he would have been a main character. I'm thankul though it didn't happen as Eddie Murphy probably would have gotten a lot of the focus and screentime to the point where all the other characters including Bill Murray's Peter Vekmann would have felt like supporting characters. I'm also doubtful Eddie Murphy would have done Ghostbusters 2. I admit though this is only going by Eddie Murphy's later film roles so maybe I am absolutely wrong. What do you all think?

[Threadender]

I haven't seen Trading Places in FOREVER, so I can't fully say with confidence that Eddie would have stolen the show.

But I can't see Eddie simply being regulated to damn-near the background like they did Ernie.

I only wish Ernie was able to shine more in his performance.

[One time]

As much as I love Ernie I think it would have made for a much better movie with Eddie Murphy.

This is why:

Hudson was simply a classically trained actor, not a comedian. Murray, Aykroyd and Ramis would have needed to elevate their game to a +1 dimension to incorporate the delivery and timing of Eddie Murphy.

Reitman would have been able to do it. The script would have been a back and forth between Murray and Murphy. Like the Paranormal and the Mundane. I think it would have added a level of veracity to the movie when a completely down to Earth, relatable, hilarious guy would have slowly come on board with the premise as the movie progressed.

Murphy would have had some killer comedic addons to the script too.

Thinking a bit deeper, Murphy may have made the movie a harder sell as in our timeline the movie paranormal angle overrules the unbelieving angle. Murphy being a non believer at the start would have audiences accepting of the paranormal be a slower burn. But I think Reitman would have been able to make it amazing.

[mrmichaelt]

4 comedic actors as the 4 GB's wouldn't worked as well imo. Too many comedic actors can also kill a script. The movie worked because it had a good mix of comedic and classically trained actors. Ernie Hudson could have used one more feature at least but we know Fort Detmerring got cut and repurposed and the history of how much they cut down on Winston's role for story reasons.

The non believer angle was done enough with Peter and the electric shock scene leading straight into him seeing a ghost and the gears start turning in his brain but I admit it was a pity we never saw that moment for Winston (although we have 2 different takes on that with comics) but equally him being an advocate telling the Mayor what he's seen was one of the most memorable and favorite moments of the movie for me.

[RioHastings]

Totally valid take! Eddie Murphy would've brought major star power, but might've shifted the group dynamic too much.

[Winston1986]

I was just looking at Eddie Murphy's Filmography and in 1989 when Ghostbusters 2 came out he was in a movie called Harlem Nights. So either he would have done that instead of Ghostbusters 2 or he would have done Ghostbusters 2 instead of Harlem Nights. I have not seen Harlem Nights but it looks like a fun movie.

[Threadender]

I was just looking at Eddie Murphy's Filmography and in 1989 when Ghostbusters 2 came out he was in a movie called Harlem Nights. So either he would have done that instead of Ghostbusters 2 or he would have done Ghostbusters 2 instead of Harlem Nights. I have not seen Harlem Nights but it looks like a fun movie.

Harlem Nights is definitely worth a watch. But I don't know if it would have been a thing, or one to include Eddie, if he did GB1 instead. I believe he made the right career choices.

[Hairy Biker]

4 comedic actors as the 4 GB's wouldn't worked as well imo. Too many comedic actors can also kill a script. The movie worked because it had a good mix of comedic and classically trained actors. Ernie Hudson could have used one more feature at least but we know Fort Detmerring got cut and repurposed and the history of how much they cut down on Winston's role for story reasons.

The non believer angle was done enough with Peter and the electric shock scene leading straight into him seeing a ghost and the gears start turning in his brain but I admit it was a pity we never saw that moment for Winston (although we have 2 different takes on that with comics) but equally him being an advocate telling the Mayor what he's seen was one of the most memorable and favorite moments of the movie for me.

This is one of the aspects that let the remake down too, way too many comedic actors trying for their funny moment, they even had Charles Dance trying for comedy. You need someone to ground the film. You need those actor actors like Hudson, Potts, Atherton etc to ground the film and act.
Its the classic straight man/ funny man bit perfected on the old vaudeville stage.

[Winston Smith]

I agree that the 2016 movie's biggest flaw was the lack of a straight man. I don't agree that Eddie Murphy would have created this problem for 1984, though. I think there's a strong case that the cast actually has two and a half straight men: Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson all take the role at times. I have no doubt Murphy would have found a good balance with the others, so the real question is how he would have changed their characterizations to find equilibrium.

I think he would have ended up playing Winston off Dan Aykroyd more, and would probably have resulted in a more eccentric Ray and a less clearly-defined Egon.

[Alex Newborn]

Eddie Murphy was who they originally wanted for the role of Winston.

That's a popular, if oversimplified, take on the evolution of the film. Both Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd have said that the Eddie Murphy part eventually became the Venkman role.

According to Harold Ramis in the 1985 book Making Ghostbusters, Dan's script had three characters who were pretty much identical. Only two of the names survived into the final film.

“ln Dan's draft. you could not differentiate the characters." Ramis continued. "Stantz and Venkman and Ramsey—the character we changed to Winston—were all essentially the same. That was fairly representative of Dan's writing at the time. He was very much concerned with story and structure and effects, but he would sort of stay on the surface of his characters. So one of the first things we did — together with Ivan —was work out distinctive character traits for the Ghostbusters so that each would have his own internal motivation and personal style."

So from this we know that originally the Ramsey role was interchangeable with Venkman and Stantz. Once Harold joined the project for the rewrites and as a potential fourth buster, the character of Egon was created for him. Ramsey eventually became Winston.

And despite recent years' trend to paint the original 1984 film in a negative light regarding its treatment of women and minorities, that was not the writers' intent. Here's another germane quote by Harold from the same book, recounting how the Writers Guild influenced their approach at the outset, and the unforeseen impact it had on other characters.

“As writers. we'd never done a black character. Nor had we ever written women very well. The Writers Guild sends out letters about this regularly — ‘let's see more women and more minorities.‘ So when we wrote Winston. l think we had our own little reverse backlash going. We bent over backwards to make Winston's character good—and in doing so. we made him so good that he was the best character in the movie. We looked at it and said: 'Jesus! He's got all the good lines.‘ At the same time, everybody was saying Bill's character was a little weak. So, little by little, we started shifting Winston's attitude to Bill‘s character— which made perfect sense — and we also ended up delaying Winston‘s introduction until much later in the film."

(The earlier drafts had Winston present at the hotel for the Slimer bust, and taking command because the other three were being too dangerous with the equipment.)

This forgotten nugget about Winston's significance being transferred to Venkman was echoed in a far more recent documentary soundbyte when Aykroyd was asked about Eddie's role becoming Ernie's, and Dan Aykroyd corrects them saying the Eddie part became the one played by "Billy, really". (I think it was the Movies That Made Us, but I can't locate a quick soundbyte at the moment.)

As for the popularity of the Eddie 'almost getting cast' story, it's always mystified me why no one mentions Gregory Hines anymore, who was also in talks for the role. This next quote not only makes it sound like Hines was much farther along in negotiations than Murphy, it also touches on earlier observations in this thread about too many comedians.

Again from Making Ghostbusters, this time from associate producer Michael C. Gross:
"l think the original concept for Winston's character was younger and hipper. At one point. we were talking with Gregory Hines about playing the part. We also considered getting a young, black comedian — somebody like Eddie Murphy. But, in retrospect, it's probably just as well we didn't. lt would have been just too much. As it is, there is a nice balance among the four characters. Winston is the moderate character against which the other three can play."

So if anyone wants to wonder what a Ghostbusters would have been like with Eddie Murphy in it, just realize it would come at the loss of the Venkman character we know now. For all the people saying "Ernie Hudson didn't get to do enough" in our timeline, in some alternate universe people are making the same complaint about Bill Murray being underutilized.

Alex

[Winston1986]

Eddie Murphy was who they originally wanted for the role of Winston.

That's a popular, if oversimplified, take on the evolution of the film. Both Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd have said that the Eddie Murphy part eventually became the Venkman role.

According to Harold Ramis in the 1985 book Making Ghostbusters, Dan's script had three characters who were pretty much identical. Only two of the names survived into the final film.

“ln Dan's draft. you could not differentiate the characters." Ramis continued. "Stantz and Venkman and Ramsey—the character we changed to Winston—were all essentially the same. That was fairly representative of Dan's writing at the time. He was very much concerned with story and structure and effects, but he would sort of stay on the surface of his characters. So one of the first things we did — together with Ivan —was work out distinctive character traits for the Ghostbusters so that each would have his own internal motivation and personal style."

So from this we know that originally the Ramsey role was interchangeable with Venkman and Stantz. Once Harold joined the project for the rewrites and as a potential fourth buster, the character of Egon was created for him. Ramsey eventually became Winston.

And despite recent years' trend to paint the original 1984 film in a negative light regarding its treatment of women and minorities, that was not the writers' intent. Here's another germane quote by Harold from the same book, recounting how the Writers Guild influenced their approach at the outset, and the unforeseen impact it had on other characters.

“As writers. we'd never done a black character. Nor had we ever written women very well. The Writers Guild sends out letters about this regularly — ‘let's see more women and more minorities.‘ So when we wrote Winston. l think we had our own little reverse backlash going. We bent over backwards to make Winston's character good—and in doing so. we made him so good that he was the best character in the movie. We looked at it and said: 'Jesus! He's got all the good lines.‘ At the same time, everybody was saying Bill's character was a little weak. So, little by little, we started shifting Winston's attitude to Bill‘s character— which made perfect sense — and we also ended up delaying Winston‘s introduction until much later in the film."

(The earlier drafts had Winston present at the hotel for the Slimer bust, and taking command because the other three were being too dangerous with the equipment.)

This forgotten nugget about Winston's significance being transferred to Venkman was echoed in a far more recent documentary soundbyte when Aykroyd was asked about Eddie's role becoming Ernie's, and Dan Aykroyd corrects them saying the Eddie part became the one played by "Billy, really". (I think it was the Movies That Made Us, but I can't locate a quick soundbyte at the moment.)

As for the popularity of the Eddie 'almost getting cast' story, it's always mystified me why no one mentions Gregory Hines anymore, who was also in talks for the role. This next quote not only makes it sound like Hines was much farther along in negotiations than Murphy, it also touches on earlier observations in this thread about too many comedians.

Again from Making Ghostbusters, this time from associate producer Michael C. Gross:
"l think the original concept for Winston's character was younger and hipper. At one point. we were talking with Gregory Hines about playing the part. We also considered getting a young, black comedian — somebody like Eddie Murphy. But, in retrospect, it's probably just as well we didn't. lt would have been just too much. As it is, there is a nice balance among the four characters. Winston is the moderate character against which the other three can play."

So if anyone wants to wonder what a Ghostbusters would have been like with Eddie Murphy in it, just realize it would come at the loss of the Venkman character we know now. For all the people saying "Ernie Hudson didn't get to do enough" in our timeline, in some alternate universe people are making the same complaint about Bill Murray being underutilized.

Alex

Wow. Thanks. Yeah. I think it worked out pretty well if Eddie Murphy's role was going to the Venkman role. I prefer the way it turned out. Plus, imagine what Real Ghostbusters would be like if Eddie Murphy had been in the Venkman role. Too different for my taste frankly. I also liked Winston being a Christian in Ghostbusters 1 and that probably wouldn't have happened if that other guy had been cast. Though maybe I'm wrong.