One of the most sought after actors in Hollywood today, Chris Hemsworth (“Thor” and “The Avengers” series) takes on the role of receptionist Kevin, a clueless man with a sweet simple attitude that both charms and confounds his female bosses to no end, in Columbia Pictures’ new action-adventure “Ghostbusters” (in Philippine cinemas Friday, July 15).
“Ghostbusters” makes its long-awaited return, rebooted with a cast of hilarious new characters. Thirty years after the beloved original franchise took the world by storm, director Paul Feig brings his fresh take to the supernatural comedy, joined by some of the funniest actors working today – Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth.
For the role, director Paul Feig tapped the unexpected comedy chops of Chris Hemsworth. And even though his co-stars are comedy pros, they were impressed by his skill. “He’s one of the best improvisers I’ve ever worked with,” says Melissa McCarthy. “That completely threw me, because we were doing 18-minute takes during the interview scene and he was never thrown. He was saying some of the strangest stuff, completely in character – we had to hold for four minutes while Kristen and I tried to stop crying with laughter. He even started singing once, and I had to stop him… I guess he’s just bionic.”
“Kevin is a big, dumb puppy dog,” says Hemsworth of his character. “He’s full of enthusiasm and ambition, but he’s completely naïve and looks at the world from a very, very different angle than everybody else. It’s fun to play someone who is completely unaware.”
“We made Kevin into a loveable kind of lunkhead who has gotten by on his looks, but he earnestly wants to be part of the group,” says Feig. “It takes him a while to figure things out – Kevin’s a little slow on the uptake – but once he gets it, he gets it. Chris turned him into a three-dimensional, hilarious character.”
Just how clueless is Kevin? Check out his glasses. “From the start, I wanted to wear glasses, and Paul was cool with that. But the problem was, the lenses were reflecting the lights, so we took out the lenses – as if no one would notice. And then, midway through, I started scratching my eye, and Melissa started to laugh and said, ‘You’ve got to do that again – and I’ll try not to laugh.’ And the more we thought about it, the more we thought it was perfect – the lenses kept getting dirty, so he took them out. That’s a great, practical response, but only if you look at the world from a different angle from everyone else. He’s quite unique.”
“Ghostbusters is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.
