One of the best-case scenarios for someone working on a spin-off of a popular movie would be to have at least one cast member from the original film be involved with what they’re doing—or so you would think. But for the 1986 animated series The Real Ghostbusters, the showrunners actually turned away one of the…well, real Ghostbusters, ironically enough.
The show ran for seven seasons on ABC, during which time the part of Winston Zeddemore was voiced by Arsenio Hall (Seasons 1-3) and Buster Jones (Seasons 4-7). As fans of the first two Ghostbusters movies will no doubt recall, it was Ernie Hudson who played the role on the big screen.
While being interviewed by The A.V. Club in 2012, Hudson revealed that he auditioned to voice Winston in The Real Ghostbusters, but things apparently didn’t go well. According to Hudson, as he was reading some of his lines, the director said, “No, no, no, that’s all wrong! When Ernie Hudson did it in the movie…,” to which Hudson replied, “Well, wait a minute: I am Ernie Hudson!”
Despite the awkward exchange, Hudson was assured he had the part as he was leaving that day.
Ernie Hudson Auditioned to Voice Winston on ‘The Real Ghostbusters’—and Didn’t Get the Part
“Then I found out that Arsenio was doing it,” Hudson explained. “I was really disappointed because the thought of someone else doing Winston was not something I felt great about. Arsenio’s a friend, so there’s no disrespect to him,” he continued. “I guess I was just there to have the director get on my nerves. Who knows what happened there?” Hudson later told Polygon that he suspected Hall was friends with the director.
In James Greene Jr.’s 2022 book A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, Real Ghostbusters casting director Marsha Goodman was quoted as saying that they never wanted the characters on the show to sound like their big screen counterparts. She also claimed that Hudson missing out on the role had nothing to do with his audition. As Goodman tells it, the producers wanted Hall because they thought he was funnier and sillier than Hudson.
“I felt terrible. He’s a wonderful actor,” Goodman said of Hudson not getting the callback.
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