One of the highlights of the first Zombieland was without a doubt Bill Murray’s extended cameo, which would go on to become one of the most memorable moments of the entire movie. It took a full ten years to get a sequel made, but Zombieland: Double Tap is now in theaters and earning solid reviews, which marks a change of pace from most long-delayed sequels.
Star Jesse Eisenberg has already hinted that the decade-long gap between installments had a lot to do with writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick’s continued involvement in the Deadpool franchise, and the writers themselves have inadvertently revealed how long it took for the script to come together in a recent interview.
In an effort to top Bill Murray’s cameo in the original movie, Reese and Wernick were hoping to take things one step further and stage a full-blown Ghostbusters reunion at the start of what would become Zombieland: Double Tap, bringing the four main cast members together again.
“Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson got Bill Murray out on a golf course and were trying to convince him to do a sequel to Ghostbusters. Dan Akroyd becomes a zombie and attacks Bill, and there are golf carts going in the lake and golf clubs being swung at people.”
That sounds like one hell of a way to open the movie and would certainly get people talking about Zombieland: Double Tap, but obviously due to a number of factors it never came to pass. Ramis passed away in 2014, and two years later the remaining original Ghostbusters all made cameos in Paul Feig’s ill-fated reboot, with Akroyd, Hudson and Murray all set to reprise their roles in Jason Reitman’s upcoming Ghostbusters 3, so the idea of a reunion has already been done several times over at this point.