Paul Feig blames Donald Trump for Ghostbusters backlash

Paul Feig partly blames Donald Trump for the backlash against his female-led 'Ghostbusters' movie.

The 62-year-old filmmaker directed the 2016 reboot - which starred Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones - against the backdrop of a "really weird" political climate, which he thinks helped fuel the racist and sexist criticism the film faced.

He told The Guardian newspaper: “The political climate of the time was really weird, with Hillary Clinton running for office in 2016.

“There were a lot of dudes looking for a fight. When I was getting piled on, on Twitter, I’d go back and see who they were. So many were Trump supporters.

“Then Trump came out against us. He was like, “They’re remaking Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford. You can’t do that. And now they’re making Ghostbusters with only women. What’s going on?” and got all upset.

“Everybody went f****** cannibal. It turned the movie into a political statement, as if to say, ‘If you’re pro-women, you’re going to go see this. If you’re not, then …’ I didn’t think it mattered at all that the main characters were women, but people brought a lot of baggage.”

Paul also explained why he chose to relaunch the franchise with a new cast, rather than making a direct follow-up to the 1984 and 1989 originals, which starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts.

He said: “Bill [Murray] had publicly said he didn’t want to do another Ghostbusters at that point.

“Harold Ramis had died. Dan and Ernie were there, but half the team felt weird.

"It had been 30 years and Bill and the gang were so iconic; I didn’t want to do anything that hurt the original movies.”