50 Fun Facts About Ghostbusters II

Which New York landmark do the heroes of Ghostbusters II bring to life with slime and pilot through the streets?

The Statue of Liberty was Dan Aykroyd's idea: he liked making something famously still get up and move, and compared it to seeing the Eiffel Tower walk.

Which famous lost ship finally reaches New York, decades late, when ghosts overrun the city in Ghostbusters II?

The Titanic beat an idea to show the Hindenburg arriving with its passengers and luggage in flames. The effects crew moved the name on their model so viewers could read it.

Which song do the crowds outside the museum sing to weaken Vigo the Carpathian at the climax of Ghostbusters II?

Auld Lang Syne does the job because the villain feeds on ill will: the finale falls on the last night of December, and the singing crowd's goodwill drains his power.

What colour is the river of slime under New York in Ghostbusters II, picked by the director over green and blue?

Pink won after the effects crew mocked up batches in several colours. The production got through about 100,000 gallons of the stuff, made fresh each day because it spoiled quickly.

Which ghost from the first film returns in Ghostbusters II, redesigned to look friendlier for young fans?

Slimer was kept in largely for youngsters who loved the cartoon spin-off, yet test audiences barely reacted to him, so he was trimmed to two short appearances.

When Ghostbusters II begins, former Ghostbuster Peter Venkman is earning his living as the host of what?

A psychic talk show is how far he has fallen: the team was sued over the damage from its first big case and barred from ghost work, so nobody pays him to catch anything.

Which nervous tax accountant from the first film represents the team at its trial in Ghostbusters II?

Louis Tully got his law degree at night school, and the trial is his first court case. He later borrows a jumpsuit and proton pack to try to join the fight himself.

Ghostbusters II was moved a week earlier to avoid opening on the same day as which rival blockbuster?

Batman flattened it anyway: opening a week later, it took $43.6 million in a weekend and knocked the Ghostbusters off the top spot, which they never won back.

What is the name of Dana Barrett's baby son, whom the villain wants as his new body in Ghostbusters II?

Oscar grew out of an old Harold Ramis idea for a horror film about an infant with an adult's agility and focus. In early drafts the boy was Peter Venkman's son.

What comes alive and attacks Dana Barrett in her apartment when the slime invades it in Ghostbusters II?

Her bathtub began in the script as a bubble-bath monster with eyes in every bubble, but the director preferred the slime itself to be the creature.

As Ghostbusters II opens, which former Ghostbuster is running lab experiments on people's feelings?

Egon Spengler puts that research to use later: when his colleagues start brawling after a dip in the slime, he is the one who works out what is driving them.

Which actress returns as Dana Barrett in Ghostbusters II, now a single mother working at an art museum?

Sigourney Weaver's character has left Peter Venkman, married, had a child and divorced since the first film, a change Bill Murray pushed for to keep the story on the team.

What do the heroes of Ghostbusters II accidentally cause while digging up a street to reach the slime?

A citywide blackout follows when Ray Stantz, attacked by the slime, breaks a pipe that falls onto a power line. It lands the team in court, charged with the damage.

In Ghostbusters II, what has built up beneath New York to create the river of slime that feeds Vigo?

Negative human emotions were the writers' point: Harold Ramis saw the slime as a metaphor for urban decay, and liked the comedy of New Yorkers having to be nice for two days.

Which R&B star plays the mayor's doorman in Ghostbusters II, a cameo promised for recording its hit single?

Bobby Brown agreed to the soundtrack only in exchange for a part. Filming was nearly over, so the director wrote him a quick scene on the mayor's doorstep.

Which hip-hop group recorded a new version of the famous theme song for Ghostbusters II?

Run-DMC worked from an update that Ray Parker Jr. helped develop of his own 1984 hit. Their version never won the lasting following of the original.

In Ghostbusters II, what kind of shop does Ray Stantz own after the team is forced out of business?

An occult bookstore is only one of his jobs: he and Winston Zeddemore also work birthday parties as entertainers, where the kids have no time for has-been ghost catchers.

In Ghostbusters II, what item of clothing comes to life on a woman's back and runs off down the street?

A mink coat had waited five years for its moment: the gag was written for the first film, went unused, and was revived for the sequel with four coats fitted with motors.

Where does the mayor's aide Jack Hardemeyer have the team locked up in Ghostbusters II to keep them quiet?

A psychiatric hospital is his way of protecting the mayor's political interests. When the mayor finds out, he fires the aide and has the team released.

What carries Dana Barrett's baby into busy traffic all by itself in the opening of Ghostbusters II?

His stroller was really five radio-controlled copies with hidden motors and brakes, steered through the traffic from up to 75 feet away by a champion model-car driver.

What job does Dana Barrett do at the Manhattan Museum of Art, where Ghostbusters II finds Vigo's portrait?

Art restorer puts her in the same building as the villain: his portrait hangs where she works, and her boss Janosz Poha, who is besotted with her, falls under its spell.

Which studio, hungry for a hit after a run of flops, pushed to get Ghostbusters II made?

Columbia Pictures had endured a long series of box-office failures since the first film, and its new president was told that getting the sequel moving was a priority.

Who plays Janosz Poha, Dana Barrett's lovestruck boss with the unplaceable accent, in Ghostbusters II?

Peter MacNicol invented the accent himself, borrowing from a Czech friend and from staff at a Romanian tourist agency. The script never said the character had one.

Which actor supplied the voice of Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II, recording every line in one day?

Max von Sydow replaced the voice of the man seen on screen, whose speech was slurred by a split lip. That actor reportedly found out at the premiere and stormed out.

Which song from the Ghostbusters II soundtrack climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot 100?

On Our Own stayed on the chart for 20 weeks and went one better on the R&B listing, where it reached number one. Its video squeezed in Christopher Reeve and two Ramones.

Which comedian makes a late cameo as a dock supervisor in Ghostbusters II, a scene added during reshoots?

Cheech Marin was not in the first cut at all: his scene was one of several shot in spring 1989, two months before release, after test audiences wanted a bigger threat.

Which future director of Ghostbusters: Afterlife plays the rude boy at the birthday party in Ghostbusters II?

Jason Reitman was the son of the film's director, and his sister Catherine appears too, as a girl taking part in a laboratory experiment.

Which fast-food chain recalled millions of Ghostbusters II noisemaker toys over a battery hazard?

Hardee's had handed out about 2.8 million Ghostblasters through 3,100 restaurants before reports came in of children swallowing the small batteries inside.

What name does the team's upgraded car carry in Ghostbusters II, with its extra roof gear and scrolling signs?

Ecto-1A adds digital announcement boards on each side and yellow-and-black stripes. Before the refit, the old car had been reduced to ferrying two of the team to birthday gigs.

Which Jackie Wilson hit sets slime dancing inside a toaster in Ghostbusters II and returns for the climax?

Higher and Higher is heard twice: Wilson's original for the toaster, and a cover by Howard Huntsberry when the team needs to lift the whole city's mood.

What name is on the abandoned underground station where the Ghostbusters II team finds the river of slime?

Van Horne is the film's stand-in for the Beach Pneumatic Transit, a real abandoned system. On screen the station is largely matte paintings, and its river a ten-foot trough.

Which composer scored Ghostbusters II, choosing not to rewatch the first film so his music would sound distinct?

Randy Edelman, working with a large orchestra for one of the first times, wrote mainly for the ghosts and the action. His score went unreleased until 2021.

Which effects studio made the ghosts for Ghostbusters II while also busy with Indiana Jones and The Abyss?

Industrial Light & Magic took over from Boss Film Studios, whose work on the original had left the director unhappy. The order grew from 110 effects shots to 180.

Dan Aykroyd's first draft of Ghostbusters II sent a kidnapped Dana Barrett to which country?

Scotland was where she would find a fairy ring and an underground civilisation, reached by a pneumatic tube over 2,000 miles long. He later called the draft too far out.

The accent of Janosz Poha in Ghostbusters II was inspired by Meryl Streep's in which film?

Sophie's Choice had a closer link than most viewers knew: the actor behind Janosz had co-starred in it as Stingo, the young writer, opposite Streep's Polish heroine.

The tall, thin and short, fat Scoleri ghosts in Ghostbusters II were styled after which Dan Aykroyd film?

The Blues Brothers gave the designer his template of one lanky sibling and one round one. The ghosts were inspired by a real pair who robbed Harold Ramis's father's shop.

Whose visit to New York closed forty blocks of Second Avenue, though the Ghostbusters II crew could still film?

Mikhail Gorbachev was visiting as leader of the Soviet Union. City officials backed the production so firmly that it was allowed to shoot there while access was restricted.

Which Bill Murray comedy held up Ghostbusters II, as he was committed to it when the cast finally said yes?

Scrooged was his return after four years away from acting, a break he took when his pet project The Razor's Edge flopped. Once he was free, the sequel's script wasn't ready.

In what guise does a ghostly Janosz snatch Dana Barrett's baby from a window ledge in Ghostbusters II?

A nanny won out over wilder ideas for the kidnapper, among them a two-headed dragon, a phantom taxi and Santa Claus. The actor wore drag for the close-ups.

What is the portrait of Vigo in Ghostbusters II really, rather than the oil painting it appears to be?

An enlarged photograph of the actor, standing in costume on a small set and lit flat to kill the shadows, was treated to look like oils after a real painting proved unconvincing.

Which real Nintendo controller steers the team's giant walking landmark through New York in Ghostbusters II?

The NES Advantage was Nintendo's arcade-style joystick, released two years before the film. In the story it is all the team needs to guide a monument into the middle of the city.

Which real New York firehouse again plays the outside of the team's headquarters in Ghostbusters II?

Hook & Ladder 8 was given the film's updated logo sign as a thank-you, and hung it on the building until it eventually fell off. The interiors were shot in Los Angeles.

The equipment designer on Ghostbusters II reused leftover prop warning labels from which science-fiction film?

Blade Runner was an earlier job for Stephen Dane, who also designed the sequel's slime blowers and giga-meter. The old labels made the new gear look more authentic.

Which band wrote the song Flesh 'n Blood for Ghostbusters II, only for four bars of it to be used?

Oingo Boingo's frontman Danny Elfman said he would have pulled the song had he known how little of it would be heard, and suspected it was used only to justify the album slot.

Which real New York building plays the outside of the art museum in Ghostbusters II, home to Vigo's portrait?

The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House also saw three of the team squeeze out of a hole in front of it covered in slime, a freezing scene shot twice after a camera fault.

Which publisher released the American Nintendo Entertainment System game based on Ghostbusters II?

Activision's hold on the American rights also kept out a rival game, New Ghostbusters II, which reached the same console only in Europe and Japan.

Which comedian filmed scenes for Ghostbusters II as the cousin who frees the team, only to be cut entirely?

Eugene Levy played Sherman, a relative of the team's lawyer who worked at the place where they were held. With him gone, an eclipse seen from the mayor's office had to explain their release.

Which machines stood by on the Ghostbusters II set to make fresh batches of slime every day?

Cement mixers, four of them, were needed because the vegetable-based gel went off quickly. Food colouring gave it its hue; mica dust and mineral oil gave the river its depth.

Which studio chairman was blamed for stalling Ghostbusters II, having publicly criticised Bill Murray?

David Puttnam preferred small films to costly sequels, though the director later said the real hold-up was a cast that did not want to return for nearly three years.

Which stop-motion animator created the Washington Square monster in Ghostbusters II despite a serious car accident?

Phil Tippett took the job on three conditions: the shot ran no longer than 160 frames, used an existing model and could be done in one take.