Trollbusters

[Content Note: Misogyny.]

Paul Feig, director of the all-female Ghostbusters reboot, talks about the gross and absurd backlash to the film he's co-writing with Katie Dippold and will direct, as well as the dudely version being quickly put into production:

"The Internet is really funny – I love it, but I hate it at the same time," says Feig in an interview about his new comedy "Spy," premiering at SXSW on Sunday. "The first wave when you make an announcement like that is overwhelmingly positive. Everyone's so happy and you're like, 'This is great.' Then comes the second wave and you're like, Oh my God. Some of the most vile, misogynistic shit I've ever seen in my life."

Feig said the response on Twitter can be vicious. "The biggest thing I've heard for the last four months is, 'Thanks for ruining my childhood.' It's going to be on my tombstone when I die," notes Feig. "It's so dramatic. Honestly, the only way I could ruin your childhood is if I got into a time machine and went back and made you an orphan."

When he receives particularly nasty remarks, Feig says he likes to look up the person's profile on Twitter. He says, "I figure it's some wacked-out teenager. But almost constantly it's someone whose bio says 'Proud father of two!' And has some high-end job. You're raising children and yet you're bashing me about putting women in my movie?"

On Monday, Sony announced it would also release a "Ghostbusters" film with a male cast, starring Channing Tatum. Feig says he is not involved with that version. "I'd heard some rumblings about it," he says of the project. "Who knew there were so many ghosts to be busted in the world?" He adds that he's a fan of Tatum and the directors Joe and Anthony Russo, but is concentrating on his film. "All I know is my ladies are going to kick ass and I would not want to go into battle without them."

Every single thing about this: A+

"Vile, misogynistic shit." A+

Calling out the hyperbolic dramatics of accusing Feig and his female co-writer and cast members of retroactively ruining one's childhood. A+

Smashing the "misogynist trolls are just angsty teens who live in their parents' basement" meme. A+

Calling out fathers who are passing on misogynist bigotry to their children. A+

Noting that this backlash is literally just about "putting women in [his] movie," nothing more and nothing less. A+

"Who knew there were so many ghosts to be busted in the world?" LOLOLOL. A+

Refusing to even get into the fuckery of the male film, but instead redirecting focus onto how awesome his female cast is. A+

I hope Paul Feig's next film is a documentary called Trollbusters, where it's just him sitting in an empty room, reading his shitty Twitter notifications from misogynist stains, and deconstructing why they are rancid garbage. I would watch the fuck outta that.