James Acaster will play an “Egon Spengler type” inventor in the upcoming Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
The new film, from director Gil Kenan and screenwriter Jason Reitman, is a direct sequel to Reitman’s 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife and a continuation of the wildly popular film series that began with 1984’s Ghostbusters, directed by Reitman’s father Ivan.
Acaster, a stand-up comedian and podcaster, left fans stunned and went viral on social media when his casting was announced last March.
Now, Jason Reitman has revealed to Empire that Acaster will play a new character named Lars Pinfield, an inventor responsible for creating a new generation of ghostbusting technology.
Although several characters in Ghostbusters: Afterlife were relatives of original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler, played by the late Harold Ramis, Reitman confirmed that Acaster’s character is not among them.
“James is not playing a Spengler, but he really falls in line with the Egon Spengler ‘type’,” said Reitman.
Last year, Dan Aykroyd also discussed Acaster’s casting while appearing on Saturday Kitchen.
‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ cast members James Acaster, Dan Ackroyd and Bill Murray— (Getty)
“James is in our show, he plays one of the developers of new equipment,” said Aykroyd, per Ghostbusters News. “He’s great, he’s very funny, and what a gentleman, he’s wonderful.”
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire will also feature a host of returning characters. Finn Wolfhard (Trevor Spengler), Mckenna Grace (Phoebe Spengler), Celeste O'Connor (Lucky Domingo), Logan Kim (Podcast), Carrie Coon (Callie Spengler) and Paul Rudd (Gary Grooberson) all reprise their roles from Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
Meanwhile, Aykroyd (Dr Ray Stantz), Bill Murray (Dr Peter Venkman), Ernie Hudson (Dr Winston Zeddemore) and Annie Potts (Janine Melnitz) return as characters from the original film series.
Along with Acaster, new additions to the cast include Patton Oswalt as Dr Hubert Wartzki and Kumail Nanjiani as Nadeem Razmaadi.
In The Independent’s two-star review of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, film critic Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “Ghostbusters: Afterlife has made me question what people even liked about the original.
“Growing up, I understood the 1984 film to be a scrappy though wildly successful comedy about a pack of down-on-their-luck dorks incidentally proving the existence of the astral plane and getting blow jobs from ghosts.
“It had the loose, anarchic humour of early Saturday Night Live, was only ever serious about the lingo of parapsychology, and was just about family-friendly enough to serve as an entry point for comedy fans. It was the film that first opened the door for young viewers to the likes of The Jerk, Trading Places, and Caddyshack.
“But from watching this latest instalment, the fourth in the franchise, you’d think Ghostbusters opened with the title card: ‘Sing, O muse!’.”
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is set to arrive in cinemas on 22 March.
