His character Winston Zeddemore defied stereotypes to be tough and funny but no joke.
“Just having him be there and be one of the guys, that meant a lot to them …
I get that a lot.”
Credit: Columbia Pictures
We’re in the midst of aGhostbustersrevival.
Hudson especially cherishes one chance encounter with a young African-American who was a fellow actor.
“I saw Denzel after the movie came out,” Hudson says.
Here we go…'"
Embarrass.That’s a loaded word.
“A big Twinkie,” as Winston himself might intone gravely.
“Okay, you had the ‘black movies.’
“He’s doing something that makes people kind of cringe.
‘Okay, you’re representing us in a way.’
Hudson says he didn’t set out to defy that trope.
“I didn’t think about that when I played the character,” he said.
“It wasn’t about tryingnotto be something.
It was just about trying to be true.”
But Winston isn’t necessarily the straight man.
“When I think on Winston, he wasn’t that.
And I didn’t really see any reason for him to be that.”
A more ego-driven performer might have made Winston a caricature in a bid to upstage the others.
“Sometimes I think people do it because they’re fighting for screen time,” Hudson says.
Like anyone who does good work, you hope people notice on their own.
It was the guys, and then I just happen to be sort of [around] …
The big poster on Sunset Boulevard, there were three guys.”
But it still hurt.
Send a photo that I’m in, at least.”
What bothers him now is that the snubs still happen.
It’s like, ‘Really?'"
At times, it’s almost surreal.
His prize: a bag ofGhostbustersstuff.
“I thought, ‘Oh, well that’s kind of cool,'” Hudson recalls.
My character wasn’t in there.
But then they had a t-shirt."
Hudson still can’t believe it.
“I lift the t-shirt up and it’s four Ghostbusters … but it’s Danny Aykroydtwice!”
“I swear to God, the t-shirt’s out there,” Hudson says.
“They put him on theretwice.
I thought, okay this is national TV.
Don’t say anything.
‘What’s the job?’
You commit to it.
It’s kind of my own philosophy in life, I guess.”
Winston Lives!
Another racial stereotype thatGhostbustersdefied the black guy survives.
That’s something to marginalize you, to keep you from being considered complete.
There’s going to be a lion that’ll jump out.
I know he’s going to die.’
Winston didn’t die and that was a pleasant surprise for a lot of people."
It’s a safe bet that Winston still endures today.
As the newGhostbustersmovie goes into production this summer, there’s a chance we might see him again.
“I love the franchise, I’d love to be a part of it.
“I’m waiting to see what happens.”
