Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray chasing each other on police motorcycles on the set of Ghostbusters II sounds amazing. Doing it on the closed streets of Central Park makes it more insane (and awesome). It wasn’t even for a scene in the movie! They just got to do it for fun! I’m not often jealous of actors, but come on, who wouldn’t want to do this? After Murray was supposedly tricked into doing the movie, it's only fair they have a little fun.
Aykroyd took to Instagram last week to celebrate Murray’s birthday (he turned 76 on September 21), and he used this untold story (to my knowledge)to do it. Here’s what one fellow Ghostbuster said to another:
Happy belated Birthday to the Murricane. The greatest comedy leading man of our time. So many adventures over the years. One night shooting GB2, we appropriated two fully equipped police motorcycles from the movie’s motor pool and spent an hour chasing each other around a closed Central Park with full lights and sirens. No consequences. After all, we were Ghostbusters.
I lived in New York City for a long time, and I’ve spent a lot of time walking around those paths and roads in Central Park. They are full of twists and turns and ups and downs, and yeah, I used to wonder what it would be like to be a race car driver on those streets. While I’m not a big motorcycle rider, I’d obviously jump at the chance to tear around the park like a madman with police lights and sirens blaring. Who wouldn’t? Central Park is featured in a lot of movies, but behind the scenes, it's even better when you can play cops and robbers with real police bikes.
Shooting Ghostbusters II Must Have Been A Blast
I’m a staunch defender of Ghostbusters II. While nothing will ever touch the original, which I think is one of the best comedies of all time, and Ghostbusters II definitely has problems, I think the sequel is really good, too. Both have equally over-the-top endings, as well. I especially love the addition of Peter MacNicol to the cast, but it’s the core characters who look like they are absolutely having the most fun. Murray and Aykroyd, along with Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, and Annie Potts, are all at the height of their comedic powers, as is director Ivan Reitman.
When I hear stories like this, with two of the biggest stars in the world at the time having the time of their lives behind the scenes, it only solidifies how much I appreciate the movie. It’s just flat-out good, clean fun. I’ll admit that while I’ve watched the original (which is available with a Netflix subscription) recently, it’s been years since I watched Ghostbusters II, and now it seems as good as any to revisit it, looking for joy in the faces of Aykroyd and Murray because of their shenanigans.
