Little-known sci-fi fact: How Ghostbusters pissed off Isaac Asimov

Thu, 10/25/2012 - 4:19pm

Today, Ghostbusters is a classic of sci-fi comedy, beloved as much for its monsters as its one-liners. But apparently while it was being filmed, the flick pissed off one of the world's greatest sci-fi writers so much that he went to the set just so he could yell at the cast.

Though much of the film was actually shot in Los Angeles, a good bit of the final showdown atop a New York City apartment building was filmed on location in Manhattan's Upper West Side. To get the shots they needed, the crew had to shut down traffic on several major Manhattan streets. By the time they were done, half of midtown Manhattan was at a standstill, and unfortunately for the cast, one of the thousands of New Yorkers who got stuck in traffic was Isaac Asimov.

Asimov was so incensed by the delay in his commute that when he found out what was causing the holdup, he made his way to the film's set and vented his frustration to star Dan Aykroyd. For a lot of people, getting yelled at by a famed sci-fi writer would just be a funny story to tell at parties, but Aykroyd was a huge admirer of Asimov's, and according to co-star Harold Ramis, the encounter left him "crushed."

Of course, now we have to wonder if Asimov ended up seeing the movie that caused him to be so late, and if so what he thought of it.

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