Sandra Bullock is leading an all-star cast in Ocean’s 8, but she took a moment to address the unfairness she saw in the reactions to the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters.
Oceans 8 is stacked with talent, as Bullock stars in the film alongside actors like Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Awkwafina, Sarah Paulson, and Helena Bonham Carter. The Ghostbusters reboot also had some stellar talent but received some backlash for going with all-female leads, something Bullock isn’t happy about.
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“That was unfair on a level that I can’t even not be mad about talking about,” Bullock told Variety. “They literally walked into a firing squad.”
The film starred Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig, and Kate McKinnon, and despite mostly positive critiques did not perform well at the box office. Much of that can be attributed to the backlash from a certain pocket of fans, and to Bullock, it makes no sense.
“You had five of the most gifted comedian actresses on the planet — I’m just gonna leave it at that,” Bullock said. “And it doesn’t just take five people to make a movie. It takes about 300, so, you know what? Let’s back off the meanness. Let’s have a year of kindness. The women are here — we’re not going anywhere. But this isn’t about just women. We like sitting at the table with men. We just want to be invited to their table as well because we like them at our table.”
Ocean’s 8 is going a similar riff on the successful Oceans franchise, with has had three films with a mostly male cast. Awkwafina hopes fans will actually give it a chance before making any assumptions.
“My advice for those people is just watch the movie [‘Ocean’s 8’] first and then go on Reddit,” Awkwafina said. “It’s as simple as that. Watch it first.”
Ghostbusters was produced on a $144 million dollar budget, and while it managed to bring in over $229 million worldwide, with advertising the film wasn’t very profitable. Director Paul Feig thinks much of that was due to the whirlwind surrounding the movie when it finally released.
“I think it kind of hampered us a little bit because the movie became so much of a cause,” Feig told Vulture. “I think for some of our audience, they were like, ‘What the f–k? We don’t wanna go to a cause. We just wanna watch a f—kin’ movie.’”
While a sequel is uncertain, the characters have lived on in IDW’s successful Ghostbusters comic series, which have been stellar if you haven’t checked them out.
Fans can check out Ghostbusters on digital and Blu-ray now, while Ocean’s 8 hits theaters on June 8.
