I’ve lived in Los Angeles for more than a decade and I still get goose bumps at some Hollywood locations. Last week, I went to Sony Pictures Studio as part of the Ghostbusters press tour. A group of us visited Ghost Corps, where Ivan Reitman works and some of the original Ghostbusters memorabilia is stored. We chatted with him and then went on a walking tour of the studio.
Reitman, who directed the original Ghostbusters, talked about how delighted he was to be able to hand over the reins to Paul Feig for the new Ghostbusters movie. It stars the hilarious Melissa McCarthy, Kristin Wig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. He had been working on plans for Ghostbusters 3, but after the great Harold Ramis passed away (co-writer of the original film with Bill Murray) he decided it was time to hand over Ghostbusters to Sony and not direct the new movie. He said that he’s happy with how it turned out. Read my review of the movie on Friday.
He showed us some of the Ghostbusters memorabilia that is displayed in glass cabinets in the lobby. It including the script from the original film.
After the tour of Ghost Corps we went on a VIP tour of the studio, which was formerly MGM. I’ve never done a studio tour before and this one was pretty amazing thanks to our extremely knowledgable guide.
We started the tour at the Barbara Streisand Scoring Stage. It was pretty incredible to be in the same studio where Judy Garland recorded “Over the Rainbow” and where Barbara Streisand recorded so many songs that the stage was named after her.
The best part of the tour for me was walking through Stage 15 where the Marx Brothers filmed A Day at the Races. It was also where Munchin land was created for the Wizard of Oz. Stage 15 is the largest soundstage in the western hemisphere and it’s also said to be haunted. There have been reports of a ghost of a man walking on a catwalk in the back corner of one of the stages.
After hearing a ton of juicy old-Hollywood gossip, we ended the tour on the Wheel of Fortune stage. I don’t have another studio tour to compare it to, but I thought the Sony tour was really interesting. Sony Pictures Studio Tours are offered Monday through Friday at 9:30 AM, 10:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 2:30 PM. Tickets are $40 and are only available for ages 12 and older.
