Dan Aykroyd, who not only played the role of the brilliant Dr. Raymond Stantz in Ghostbusters, but was a creative force behind the supernatural comedy blockbusters as well, expressed his sympathies today about Ivan Reitman’s death.“Feeling heartbreak today for Geneviève, Catherine, Caroline, Jason and family.

The loss of my friend, collaborator, champion and one of the last great creative talents of the BIG SCREEN ERA crumples me,” said Aykroyd in a statement sent to Deadline, “Now on Thursdays who am I gonna call?”Aykroyd joins former franchise castmate Ernie Hudson, aka Winston Zeddemore, who weighed in to pay tribute to Reitman last night as well as Paul Feig, who directed the 2016 all femme reboot and Ghostbusters: Afterlife director and Ivan’s son, Jason Reitman, and that movie’s castmembers Carrie Coon and Mckenna Grace.Aykroyd wrote the first two Ghostbusters movies with the late Harold Ramis, and served as an EP on Paul Feig’s all femme 2016 version as well as last year’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife which has grossed close to $200M WW and has taken the Columbia Pictures franchise through four movies to over $937M WW.Aykroyd reportedly conceived Ghostbusters initially for himself and comedy partner John Belushi before the SNL alum’s death.

He was inspired to write Ghostbusters given his fascination with the paranormal as well as the comedy spooky movies of Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope and The Bowery Boys.

Aykroyd played Ray Stantz three times in the 1984, 1989 and the latest 2021 versions of Ghostbusters. He also played the role of Cabbie in the 2016 Feig directed movie.Ivan Reitman was a huge part of the media tour for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, showing up at CinemaCon on stage with Jason Reitman, as well as NYC

Dan Aykroyd Joins ‘Ghostbusters’ Family In Paying Tribute To Ivan Reitman

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