Bill Murray Explains Why He Decided To Return For Paul Feig's 'Ghostbusters'

Earlier this month we learned that Bill Murray, after years of staunchly refusing to return for a third Ghostbusters movie, had shot a cameo in Paul Feig's Ghostbusters. So what gives? What finally got Murray to change his mind and return to the franchise? Murray explains after the jump. 

The Bill Murray Ghostbusters cameo was explained in an interview with Vulture. Basically, Murray really liked Feig and the cast, and started to worry he was harming them by declining to participate. He explains:

I thought about it for a very long time. Like, many, many months. No, that's not right. I was seriously thinking about this for years, really ... It kept eating at me, and I really respect those girls. And then I started to feel like if I didn't do this movie, maybe somebody would write a bad review or something, thinking there was some sort of disapproval [on my part].

Murray has previously acknowledged that one reason he wasn't interested in any of the other incarnations of Ghostbusters 3, was that they simply didn't sound that good to him. "I read one that Danny [Aykroyd] wrote that was crazy bizarre and too crazy to comprehend," he said of one back in October.

So fair or not, Murray's probably right that his absence from Feig's Ghostbusters would have been interpreted by some as a bad sign. Now, instead, his presence gives Feig's Ghostbusters the official Bill Murray stamp of approval.

As for the Ghostbusters shoot itself, Murray only had nice things to say:

You know, they were incredibly nice to ask me, and I really enjoyed being there. They have such a jolly group, and they are going to have great success with this project. I didn't want to overshadow [them] or anything, and I feel really good about it.

Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Chris Hemsworth, and Neil Casey lead the new Ghostbusters, which opens July 15, 2016.