LOS ANGELES (AP) — It takes all of 30 seconds for Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon to start cracking each other up — and anyone else lucky enough to be in the room with all that infectious energy.
The three “Ghostbusters” stars, minus Kristen Wiig who was sick, share some of their favorite stories about Bill Murray, their friendship and that incident with scotch and ham, in interviews with The Associated Press.
Associated Press: What did you think about the ensemble?
McKinnon: (Director) Paul (Feig) picked people who would complement each other. Someone was the chicken, someone was the mashed parsnips, someone was the gravy and someone was the roll. I don’t know which one I was, but everyone served their function.
AP: Kate and Leslie, this was your first big movie. What was that like?
McKinnon: I love Leslie, but Melissa and Kristen were two of my all-time comedy heroes. I was just like, ‘I’m just going to watch for a few days. See how it’s done.’
AP: Melissa, did you feel like the expert?
McCarthy: Oh, for god sake’s, no. I just feel like someone has put roller skates on my feet and sent me out into an ice rink. I’m always like, ‘Oh god! I’ve got the wrong shoes on!’ I’m just trying not to fall.
AP: What was it like having Bill Murray there?
Jones: He brought beast mode.
McCarthy: It was a little surreal.
McKinnon: I didn’t speak. I was like, ‘I’m in a room with Bill Murray. What strange sequence of events has taken place that’s brought me in the same room as Bill Murray?’
Jones: My favorite scene was when (McCarthy’s character) was arguing with Bill, and I’m like, ‘That’s right! You tell him!’ And then I realized, ‘Oh, you’re not watching a movie.’
McCarthy: I think you said, ‘That’s right, Melissa.’ And I’m like, ‘We’re in character, babe.’
AP: Was Chris Hemsworth able to hold his own?
McCarthy: He is a remarkable improviser.
McKinnon: His job interview scene has eight days of footage because he was saying the funniest things I’ve ever heard in rapid succession for hours. We met in the bathroom and were like ‘does he have writers?’
McCarthy: Truly! And it was like, OK that’s totally fine. What a prepared actor.
Jones: I was dying, I was laughing so hard.
AP: What would you want Kristen to talk about if she was here?
Jones: All the activities.
MCcKinnon: There were many activities. She would often, an hour before we were about to finish, say, ‘Oh, I’m going to be late to my ukulele session,’ or ‘I have to cancel my knitting class.’
Jones: Tennis.
McCarthy: Canoeing! She’s a real renaissance woman.
Wiig (Later, by phone): I did bring my ukulele. I was doing a lot of that. And I was taking tennis lessons and would kayak and paddleboard or go to the vineyard. It was Boston in the summer, it was beautiful!
AP: The rest of you didn’t fill your downtime with hobbies?
McCarthy: By the end of the day, I was like, I need some scotch.
Jones: Some scotch and some ham.
McCarthy: Oooooooh god.
McKinnon: I forgot about that!
Jones: That was the best chain text ever.
McCarthy: Were we all in the tub? In my head we were all in bathtubs. In separate tubs. In separate hotel rooms. Was it just me?
Jones: It was just you.
McKinnon: She’s erected scaffolding around this memory.
Jones: You’re trying to black out the details.
McCarthy: We were so tired. We were so out of our minds. Kristen said something like, ‘I had a glass of wine and 18 veggie chips.’ Everyone said what they were doing and they were all super lame. And I may have said, ‘I may be in the tub with scotch and a piece of ham.’ Everyone thought it was a joke. Then my ham fell in the tub and I took a picture.
Jones: It had soap on it. We were like, ‘Are you going to eat that? Just let it go down the drain.’
McCarthy: I was so tired that I was like, ‘I can’t go out and get more. I’ve got to eat this soapy ham.’ I’m pretty sure I did. That’s the glamour of Hollywood, guys.
McKinnon: It wasn’t even a light pink Virginia ham. It was red.
Jones: I just remember the bubbles coming off of it.
McCarthy: I don’t eat ham in the tub anymore.
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The interviews were edited for clarity and brevity.
