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Ernie Hudson remembers his time with Ghostbusters and how difficult it was for him. The actor played Winston in the film directed by Ivan Reitman.
During an appearance on The Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, Hudson said that Reitman “was really, really a brilliant man and I just have so much love and appreciation for him.” However, Hudson didn’t have the same kind words for the studio behind the hit film.
“I was the guy that was brought in, so I found my place right in the middle — and they were all welcoming and inclusive,” Hudson said of the cast on the SiriusXM show. “The studio wasn’t, and the studio still wasn’t. That made it very, very difficult because I was a part of it, but then I was pushed aside very selectively.”
Hudson continued, “When the posters came out, I wasn’t on the poster. It took a long time. I was at the 30th anniversary film release and there are three guys on all the posters. Now I know the fans see it differently and I’m so grateful to the fans because the fans basically identified with Winston, especially young ones, I wouldn’t want to say minority children, but a lot of children.”
The actor calls Ghostbusters “the most difficult movie” he’s ever made “from a psychological perspective.”
“The original script, Winston, was at the very beginning of the film. As we were getting ready to shoot, Winston walked in halfway through the film,” he recalled. “All those things… It definitely felt intentional. And I still try not to take it personally. Anything bad if you’re African American in this country, anything bad happens to you, you can always blame it because I’m black. You don’t want to go there. That’s the last thing I want to do… I don’t have anything bad to say about anyone, but it was hard. It took me 10 years to get over it and enjoy the film and just embrace the film. Ghostbusters was really hard to make peace with.”
Watch Hudson’s interview in the video posted below.