In an interview with Vulture, Bill Murray revealed why he decided to the cameo in the all female Ghostbusters remake:
“I thought about it for a very long time. Like, many, many months. No, that’s not right. I was seriously thinking about this for years, really … It kept eating at me, and I really respect those girls. And then I started to feel like if I didn’t do this movie, maybe somebody would write a bad review or something, thinking there was some sort of disapproval [on my part].”
Murray also confirmed that he had no desire to return to the franchise previously (which he has made fairly clear in the past), but it was Melissa McCarthy, Kristin Wiig and director Paul Feig that made him want to do it:
“I like those girls a lot. I mean, I really do. They are tough to say no to. And Paul is a real nice fellow.”
It appears that Murray was in a tough spot, feeling the pressure to appear in a movie he didn’t want to for fear of backlash against the film itself. What is curious, though, is that he didn’t seem to feel the same obligation to appear in the third film featuring his original co-stars. That said, we once again ask, where is the love for Ernie Hudson?