Annie Potts
The Ghostbusters are back in business, and Annie Potts is taking calls.
The Nashville-born performer made her mainstream breakthrough as the Ghostbusters’ unforgettable secretary in the era-defining franchise of the same name. Janine Melnitz was an instant fan favorite thanks to her dry wit and no-nonsense attitude — a perfect role for Potts. She’ll reprise her role in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, hitting theaters everywhere this week, as the originals and a new generation of Ghostbusters unite to save the world from a second ice age.
“You need the next gen to pass the baton to,” Potts tells the Scene. “What the new film does so deftly is marry the new Ghostbusters to the OGs. It is one more step to not having the OGs, but I’m sure they want to make this an ongoing franchise, and it’s what they have to do. It’s in really good hands.”
Part of the appeal for bringing back the surviving original Ghostbusters — Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson, all of whom appeared in 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife as well — was to pass the torch to the new cast in a meaningful way. The 2021 film was directed and co-written by Jason Reitman, son of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II director Ivan Reitman. Though Gil Kenan directed this year’s film, the younger Reitman did return as co-writer.
Potts has had the privilege of being part of another franchise that has now spanned generations and appeals to fans of all ages, as the voice of Bo Peep in the Toy Story films.
“In both cases, they reinvented in such a way that it keeps the audience coming,” she says. “People love to take their children because it was also their generation. That’s kind of unusual — there are only a handful of products out there that would continue to give that.”
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
The original Ghostbusters movies were a huge phenomenon that took the world by storm. Potts compares the cultural impact of 1984’s Ghostbusters and 1989’s Ghostbusters II to that of Taylor Swift today, and recalls a moment shooting the first film’s iconic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man scene in New York City.
“We had to stop traffic, and it was 4 o’clock on a Friday afternoon,” she says. “They put us in an apartment building there [in Central Park West], as they couldn’t get actors’ trailers, and you could see all the way down. … Manhattan became gridlocked.
“Most of the time that would make Manhattaners really mad,” Potts continues. “But because it was Ghostbusters they were like, ‘Dude, it’s Ghostbusters, come on!’ To be forgiven for such a traffic snarl on a Friday in Manhattan gives you an idea of our popularity.”
Potts recalls feelings of “serious déjà vu” when stepping through the doors of the firehouse on the Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire set.
“You remember all the bric-a-brac on the staircase and the tiles, it was done to perfection,” she says. “Even the notes on the desk — I had stationery that had my name on it. It was crazy but beautiful, that kind of detail is such a marvel and so welcome to actors.”
“We have been doing the same film for 40 years,” Potts says of working again with Aykroyd, Murray and Hudson. “We all fall back into each other’s company as if it was 1984.”
Potts is known for her theater background — a contrast from SNL alumni Aykroyd and Murray.
“I don’t like improvisation, especially when the script is good!” she says. “They liked to play, and sometimes I was invited in on that. It’s fun to play in their world. Danny and Bill were always working and improving it. If an idea could be better, they would come up with something. It’s a very live way to work.
“Sometimes it was a little hard to keep up,” she continues. “It’d be like, ‘If you change that and say that, what am I supposed to say?’ It’s a little funny, but I come to play too!”
The topic of Potts’ friend and collaborator John Candy comes up. March marked the 30th anniversary of the death of the celebrated comedian, who was initially approached for the role of Louis Tully. The part ultimately went to Candy’s fellow SCTV alum Rick Moranis.
“John Candy was the sweetest man on the planet,” says Potts, who appeared in 1989’s Who’s Harry Crumb? with the late actor. “Just absolutely lovely. He was funny, sweet and always concerned about everybody else. On the set he would be like, ‘Are you having fun? Did you eat? Did you like the script?’”
In 2022, on her 70th birthday, Potts launched The Heart Channels — a charity organization that identifies ways to offer aid directly to those in need. She helps fund the charity in part by donating all the proceeds from her Cameo account — where she takes requests and can even deliver personalized lines as Janine or Bo Peep.
“There is so much need,” says Potts. “My best friend and I said that we needed to set something up so we could continue to help people in a formal way. We are helping some Afghani families, and we are helping put a young woman through college who is academically gifted but wouldn’t be able to go otherwise.
“I love it. We make it very personal and we are very small. A couple of weeks ago, my friend, who I oversee the charity with, was in the ER with one of our family members who needed our help and didn’t speak English. We are there when they need us, quite literally.”
