Yesterday, Ghostbusters director Paul Feig added his (tweeted) voice to the ongoing discussion about Leslie Jones’ character — or at least that character as depicted in the trailer.
After the first Ghostbusters trailer was released, many people’s reactions included surprise at its odd torpor (likely a result of editing, as was proven by this recut trailer). Others were purely ecstatic — regardless of the quality of the trailer — to finally get to see Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy and Kate McKinnon busting ghosts. There was also, of course, controversy over Leslie Jones’ role: people took umbrage with the fact that the other three are scientists while, as the only black actress involved, Jones plays an MTA employee who joins the crew because she knows the city and has a Cadillac hearse. (Earlier press materials describing her as a municipal historian could show that it’s simply, surprise, too early to really know what the character in the film will be like).
Leslie Jones, as Flavorwire reported, was the first to respond to people who were critiquing the character — and even sometimes Jones for playing it:
And now Feig has contributed his support to Jones, asking that if people choose to take issue with the film before they’ve seen it, they aim their anger at him. He wrote his comments after Jones finally tweeted that she was perhaps going to leave Twitter due to all of the criticism. Feig replied: