Dan Aykroyd called Ivan Reitman his ‘friend, collaborator, champion and one of the last great creative talents of the BIG SCREEN ERA,” in a touching statement he released two days after the director’s death.
Dan Aykroyd, 69, is speaking out after the devastating death of Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman. The actor, who was one of the cast members of the original 1984 supernatural comedy film about ghost hunters, released a statement on Twitter about the iconic creator, who died at the age of 75 on Feb. 12.
“Feeling heartbreak today for Geneviève, Catherine, Caroline, Jason and family,” the statement read, referring to Ivan’s wife and children. “The loss of my friend, collaborator, champion and one of the last great creative talents of the BIG SCREEN ERA crumples me. Now on Thursdays who am I gonna call?”
In addition to Dan, other cast members from the Ghostbusters film series, including Ernie Hudson, released public tributes.
Dan Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman
Dan Aykroyd poses with Ivan Reitman at a previous event. (Eric Charbonneau/Shutterstock)
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“I am deeply saddened by the loss of Ivan Reitman. Truly a great man and filmmaker who I had honor and privilege of knowing and working with. Deepest condolences to Jason and the entire family. May he RIP #jasonReitman,” Ernie’s Instagram message, which also included a photo of Ivan and Jason, read.
Paul Feig, who directed the 2016 all-female reboot of Ghostbusters, was another person to honor Ivan as well as actresses Carrie Coon and Mckenna Grace, who starred in the 2016 film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
“Sending so much love to the great @JasonReitman for the loss of his amazing father Ivan. Jason and Ivan have always been so supportive of me throughout my career and I’ll never be able to truly repay them both. This is such a sad day. ❤️❤️❤️,” a tweet from Paul read.
Carrie shared a photo of her, Ivan, and other actors from the movie set along with a broken heart emoji while Mckenna shared a behind the scenes pic of her with Ivan along with a red heart emoji.
Ivan made an impressive impact with the release of the original Ghostbusters film. It was followed up with Ghostbusters II. Dan wrote both with the late Harold Ramis, who also starred in the films. Dan also served as an EP on the 2016 reboot as well as 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which was directed by Ivan’s son Jason.
