"Ghostbusters" star Ernie Hudson said he was "selectively pushed aside" by Columbia Pictures during the production and promotion of the 1984 hit flick, adding that, while number one films typically skyrocket an actor's career, it "didn’t do anything" for him.
Hudson, who starred as Winston in the film, told radio host Rashaan Rogers on "The Howard Stern Wrap Up Show" that the film was the "most difficult" he had ever made.
"I was the guy who was brought in," he said, pointing out that actors Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis were already successful in film.
Hudson made clear this his problem was with the studio instead of director Ivan Reitman and the crew.
"They [the crew] were all welcoming and inclusive. The studio wasn't, and the studio continued not to be," he told Rogers. "It made it very, very difficult because I was a part of it, but very selectively, I was pushed aside. When the posters came out, I'm not on the posters…"
Hudson said he went to the 30th anniversary release of the movie, dismayed to see the poster featured only three actors – none of which were him.
"I know the fans see it differently, and I'm so thankful for the fans because I know they've basically identified with Winston… it took a long time for the studio and, even now, we're negotiating the new movie that's gearing up to start shooting in March, and I'm like, ‘Guys, there’s a place that I'm not an add-on, and so, if I do it, it has to make sense."
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Hudson said he saw an atypical result from the film, pointing out that it never did anything "for [his career]" afterward.
"I was always told that it's almost impossible to succeed, but if you get in a major movie from a major studio and it comes out and it opens number one, it'll change your career. Well, ‘Ghostbusters’ didn't do anything for me."
He added that he waited 2-and-a-half years to be cast in another movie and said "Ghostbusters" was the "most difficult movie" he ever did.
He continued, telling Rogers that he doesn't want to "go there" when talking about racial implications of the issue.
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"If you’re African-American in this country, anything bad happens to you, you can always blame it on, 'Oh because I’m Black… You don’t want to go there. That’s the last thing I want to do," he said.
"I got nothing bad to say about anybody but it was hard. It took me probably ten years to finally get past that and enjoy the movie and just embrace the movie. It was really hard. ‘Ghostbusters’ was really hard to make peace with it."
