Heh, some amusing and interesting trivia about the movie:
Gozer was originally going to be played by Paul Reubens, who turned down the role. In the original script, Gozer appeared as a normal man in a business suit.
Punk rocker Anne Carlisle was originally offered the role of Zuul, but turned it down.
Sandra Bernhard was originally offered the role of Janine.
Dan Aykroyd's original version of the script began with the Ecto-mobile flying out of Ghostbusters HQ, but director Ivan Reitman suggested that it would be better to show how the team got started.
Dana's apartment building actually exists at 55 Central Park West in New York City. The building is actually only 19 stories high. For the film, matte paintings and models were used to make the building look bigger and with more floors.
The Sta-Puft marshmallow man was originally supposed to come up out of the water right next to The Statue of Liberty, to get a contrast of size, but the scene was too hard too shoot.
On the set, Dan Aykroyd referred to the "Slimer" ghost as the ghost of John Belushi.
Though never referred to in the script, the green ghost the guys bust in the hotel was dubbed "Onionhead" by the crew, because of its horrid smell. A scene where the ghost haunts two newlyweds showed this characteristic, but it was cut. Since it was never referred to in the movie, the writers of the animated show came up for a different name for the green ghost: Slimer.
The eggs which fry themselves are sitting next to a package of "Sta-Puft" marshmallows. There is also a large advertisement for "Sta-Puft" marshmallows (complete with the marshmallow man) visible on the side of a building.
Many sequences were shot but removed from the film (a couple of the following were added as extras to the Criterion Collection CAV laserdisc release) :
Several shots in the sequence where Venkman, Stantz, and Spengler are thrown off campus were cut.
Several scenes throughout the film with Janine and Egon were cut.
The first time Venkman leaves Dana's apartment, he says to Louis "What a woman."
The "green slimer" ghost is discovered by two newlyweds at the Hotel Sedgewick. Also cut was a Ghostbuster inspection of the room.
A policeman tries to ticket the Ectomobile, but the car won't let him.
'Murray, Bill' andDan Aykroyd play two bums that witness Louis being chased by the terror dog.
Ray and Winston inspect Fort Detmerring, where Ray dresses in an old General's coat and falls asleep. When he awakes, he sees a female ghost above his bed. This part of the sequence was kept and used in the montage in the middle of the film.
Louis encounters two muggers in Central Park during the ghost montage.
Venkman and Stantz discuss matters with the mayor outside City Hall.
The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man sequence ends with his large hat falling to the ground. Some deleted shots appear in the film's trailers.
In the middle of the film's initial release, to keep interest going, Ivan Reitman had a trailer run, which was basically the commercial the Ghostbusters' use in the movie, but with the 555 number replaced with a 1-800 number, allowing people to call. They got a recorded message of 'Murray, Bill' and Dan Aykroyd saying something to the effect of "Hi. We're out catching ghosts right now." They got 1,000 calls per hour, 24 hours a day, for six weeks.
When Alice the librarian is queried as to whether anyone in her family had ever had any history of mental illness, she replies she had an uncle who thought he was St. Jerome. Jerome is the patron saint of librarians.
The demonic voice of Dana/Zuul was performed by director Ivan Reitman. The voice of Gozer was provided by Paddi Edwards.
The premise of the movie bears a striking similarity to a Disney short cartoon of Donald, Mickey and Goofy chasing ghosts and arriving in an ambulance.
John Candy was originally given the role of Louis Tully. He eventually backed out.
The music video for the song 'Ghostbusters' by Ray Parker Jr, directed by Ivan Reitman, featured a number of celebrities who did not appear in the film. This included Chevy Chase, John Candy, Danny DeVito, Peter Falk, Mellisa Gilbert, Carly Simon, Teri Gar, and 'Cheers' favorite guest George Wendt. Aswell as the Ghostbusters themselves dancing down Times Square right behind Ray Parker Jr.
In rehearsal, Bill Murray (Venkman) teased Czech supermodel Slavitza Jovan (Gozer) about her pronunciation of the line "Choose and Perish", which sounded to him like "Jews and Berries"(!) and he'd say "There are no Jews and Berries here!"
In earlier drafts of the film, it began with the Ecto-1 going out on a "call" and ended with Ghostbusters becoming a global franchise with locations throughout the United States and the rest of the world.
Most of the deleted scenes are "restored" in the novelized adaptation of "Ghostbusters"
The original script had a budding romance between the cynical receptionist Janine and the blissfully out of it Egon, but most of it was edited out of the film. The special edition DVD features a deleted scene of Janine giving Egon a coin for luck before he goes off with the other Ghostbusters to fight Gozer; they are interrupted by Venkman. The relationship between Janine and Egon was explored more in the animated series that followed.
The interiors for the hotel scene were filmed (mostly) at the famous Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, on the corner of 5th and Grand. This famous location has been used for hundreds of films, TV shows, commercials and even a few music videos. The three doors that the Ghostbusters walk through in the movie are actually located on the entrance on 5th St. The Grand Avenue entrance leads you to the main lobby, which used to be the hotel ballroom, as seen in the film. (The ceiling is a dead give away.) The room's formerly solid walls have been replaced by glass doors (at the entrance) and archways. The reception desk is where the long banquet table was located in the film. To the right of that would have been the bar that Egon blasts. If you go into the bar to the right of the main lobby, there is a picture of the old ballroom on one of the walls, giving you a better perspective of what the room looked like in the early '80s.
Flashbulbs were used on the business end of the proton pack weapons so that the special effects creators could properly synch up the effects with the action (most visible in the dining room scene, frame by frame, when capturing Slimer).
All the college scenes were filmed at Columbia University in New York, including the fictional Weaver Hall office/lab interiors. Director Ivan Reitman decided to use an actual on-campus office instead of a soundstage so the film crew could film indoors if the weather turned bad, rather than lose a day's filming. Columbia University agreed to all this, on the condition the school not be mentioned by name on-camera.
The firehouse set the Ghostbusters use as HQ was remodeled and used once again as the mechanic shop in The Mask (1994).
Originally, the Ghostbusters were to wear SWAT team like helmets, and their proton pack guns were small wands attached to their hands.
Storyboarded but never shot included:
A scene with Egon testing the proton pack, which is charged by being plugged in. The pack melts the plug.
A model's mink coat comes to life on a runaway. Note that this scene does happen in Ghostbusters 2 to a woman on the street.
The bum that Bill Murray played in a deleted scene looks and acts just like his character on Caddyshack (1980) (and also sports a golfing cap).
The party scene where Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) mingles with his party guests (commenting on the price of the salmon, and so on) is not only taken in one continuous shot, but is almost entirely improvised.
Early publicity for the film was a teaser campaign featuring just the "no ghosts" logo. As the campaign built, the Ectomobile was also driven around the streets of Manhattan.
Huey Lewis and the News turned down an offer to write and record a theme song for Ghostbusters. They later sued Ray Parker Jr. for plagiarism, citing the similarities between his theme song and their earlier hit "I Want a New Drug."
Exterior scenes of the Ghostbusters headquarters were filmed at the Hook and Ladder #8 Firehouse in the Tribeca section of New York City. Inside the firehouse are a Ghostbusters sign and photos taken with the cast and crew.
After the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is destroyed there is a shot of a man down on the street being deluged by a huge amount of marshmallow goo. Due to the extreme angle of the shot most viewers don't realize that this is Walter Peck. A cut scene (included on the DVD) took place a few moments before, at the same angle, where Peck tells the police to go up to the roof and arrest the Ghostbusters.
The "marshmallow" goo was actually shaving cream. More than fifty gallons was dumped on Walter Peck almost knocking him to the ground.
The schedule for getting the movie into theatres for its scheduled release date in summer 1984 was so tight, director Ivan Reitman said that the final print included incomplete special effects shots and errors like "wires showing" but, "remarkably, people didn't care".
One scene shot for the film but later deleted shows Ray and Winston on a call and Ray ends up in Canadian Mounties outfit. Production stills from this scene appear in the published version of the film script.
Initally, Ray Parker Jr. was having trouble writing the theme song to the film. The problem was solved when he saw the TV commercial for the Ghostbusters business in the film which inspired him to write the song like a advertising jingle for the business. The song was a #1 hit for three weeks.
When Venkman mentions the time Spengler tried to drill a hole in his head, Spengler's response ("That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me") was actually ad-libbed by Harold Ramis.
The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man suits cost Approximately $20,000 apiece. Three were made and all were destroyed during filming.
The Ectomobile was originally painted black until it was pointed out that most driving would be at night and the car would be difficult to see. It was then repainted white.
Because some of the film was shot on location at Columbia University, in New York, the school receives a percentage of the royalties for the film to this date. Not knowing if the movie would be a success and being required to choose what they would spend the money on prior to the film's release, they chose landscaping and, due to the movie's success, they can afford to re-sod their campus monthly.
The firehouse used is actually two different firehouses that are in two different cities. The exterior is in NY, while the interior is in downtown Los Angeles. The LA firehouse is very popular with filmmakers and has been used in many movies.
