Demi Moore doesn’t really want more “Ghost.”
The actress told Variety that after it was announced in 2023 that Channing Tatum was set to produce a remake of the Oscar-winning 1990 film, she had her own doubts.
“There are some films better left alone,” Moore said. “But it depends on what the take is. […] Channing is incredibly intelligent and talented — who knows what he would bring to it if it happened.”
Moore starred alongside Patrick Swayze in the acclaimed romance-drama that centered on a widow (Moore) who is visited by the spirit of her husband (Swayze) after he is murdered. Whoopi Goldberg won the Academy Award for playing a psychic who helps solve the case. “Ghost” earned five Academy Award nominations, garnering another win for Best Original Screenplay.
“The success of ‘Ghost’ is really about alchemy,” “The Substance” star Moore said. “Think about Whoopi, who anchored the comedy in a magical way. Or Tony Goldwyn, the boy next door who is the most unsuspecting villain. And the sweetness and virility of Patrick Swayze.”
Moore added of the film’s legacy, “There’s something comforting about the movie. It’s about the things we might perceive as lost never really leaving us.”
But even if Tatum asked, Moore isn’t totally sold on the idea of reprising her role.
“I’d have to see what they come up with,” she said, sharing that she was “terrible at making the pottery in ‘Ghost’” anyways.
Tatum, who recently starred in “Blink Twice,” told Vanity Fair in 2023 that his production company Free Association acquired the rights to “Ghost.”
Per Vanity Fair, Tatum told the interviewer that Free Association is “trying to pull together a remake of Ghost, with him potentially playing the Swayze role.” However, the reimagining would be sans “problematic” stereotypes, as Vanity Fair wrote.
Tatum said, “But we’re going to do something different. I think it needs to change a little bit.”
Swayze’s filmography has recently been revisited with a remake of “Road House,” and an upcoming sequel to “Dirty Dancing” in the works. While Moore may not be reprising her role from “Ghost” anytime soon, Jennifer Grey will be back as Frances “Baby” Houseman for the “Dirty Dancing” installment, helmed by “Long Shot” and “50/50” director Jonathan Levine. The film will be set at Kellerman’s Camp in the 1990s and focus on a coming-of-age romance, with Baby’s personal story intertwined for a multi-layered (and multi-generational) narrative. Swayze’s character Johnny will also be incorporated into the plot, with production in talks with Swayze’s estate.
