Director Paul Feig wants the public to stop criticising his Ghostbusters reboot before they have seen the movie.
The Bridesmaids filmmaker and the all-female Ghostbusters played by Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, have been receiving backlash ever since the reboot of the 1984 original was announced in 2014.
Paul wishes the public would hold fire from criticism until they have seen the finished product. The director is annoyed people are forming an opinion based on the fact it is a reboot and it features an all-female team, rather than the original all-male line-up.
"The problem with the internet is people pre-judge things," he told Britain's The Independent newspaper.
"There are waves of comments that are pure misogyny, but there's also a whole other group of people who have problem that it's a reboot. I get that, but the film hasn't even come out yet. Give it a chance."
The criticism reached fever pitch when the trailer was released at the start of March and fans took issue with Leslie, the only black Ghostbuster, working on the subway while the others are scientists, and Paul embarked on massive rant telling "haters" to attack him, not his cast.
"They can attack me all they like (although I'd prefer if they didn't)," he continued. "But when they go directly to Melissa and Leslie's Twitter accounts and say something horrible, I have a problem. They are hired guns, it's not their fault."
Leslie previously hit back at critics who accused the movie of racial stereotyping, writing, "If they made me a scientist, you would be mad at what type of scientist. Seriously it's a f**king movie. Get over yourself... ITS NOT A MAN, WOMAN, RACE, CLASS THANG!! ITS A GHOSTBUSTER THANG!!"
When Leslie wrote she might leave Twitter due to the criticism, Paul told her on Twitter to "F**k the haters" before adding to his followers, "And haters, attack me all you want but when you attack and insult my cast, you've crossed the line. Grow up and leave my cast alone."
The reboot takes place 30 years after the original, which starred Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, and is set for cinema release on July 15 in the UK and US.
WENN.com
