Ghostbusters star Ernie Hudson has led tributes to Ivan Reitman, the director of the first two films in the franchise who passed away over the weekend at the age of 75.
Reitman also helmed Bill Murray's Stripes, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito's Twins, Arnie's Kindergarten Cop, Uma Thurman's My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Natalie Portman's No Strings Attached. As producer, he worked on Space Jam and its sequel, the Baywatch reboot, Ghostbusters 2016 and the recent Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which his son Jason directed.
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"I am deeply saddened by the loss of Ivan Reitman," Hudson wrote on Twitter. "Truly a great man and filmmaker who I had [the] honor and privilege of knowing and working with. Deepest condolences to Jason and the entire family. May he RIP."
Carrie Coon, who appeared in Afterlife, also tweeted: "Working with Ivan was an honor and a pleasure and I'm so grateful that I was invited into the universe he helped to build, one that continues to resonate with fans the world over."
Paul Feig, the director of the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, shared his own post about Reitman, writing: "I'm in absolute shock. I had the honor of working so closely with Ivan and it was always such a learning experience. He directed some of my favorite comedies of all time. All of us in comedy owe him so very much. Thank you for everything, Ivan. Truly."
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Over on Instagram, fellow Afterlife star Mckenna Grace shared a photo of the two of them on set with a heart emoji.
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"Tonight, the lady with the torch weeps, as do all of us at Columbia, and film lovers around the world," wrote Sony Motion Pictures Group CEO Tom Rothman. "Ivan Reitman was an inseparable part of this studio's legacy, but more than that he was a friend.
"A great talent and an even finer man; he will be dearly missed. We send his family all our condolences."
Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
