Creator / Ivan Reitman

Ivan Reitman OC (October 27, 1946 – February 12, 2022) was a Czechoslovak-born Canadian film director and producer.

He was born in Komárno, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) to Hungarian Jewish parents; his father was a resistance fighter during World War II, while his mother was an Auschwitz survivor. His family moved to Canada when he was four. He was best known for the comedies he directed (especially in The '80s and The '90s), such as Stripes, the first two Ghostbusters films, Twins and Kindergarten Cop. As a producer, he was behind things like Space Jam.

He was married to Geneviève Robert from 1976 to his death, and had three children. His son Jason became a respected filmmaker in his own right, with Ivan serving as producer for many of his films. His daughter Catherine is an actress.

He passed away in his sleep on February 12, 2022, at the age of 75.

---

Works directed by him on TV Tropes:

• Cannibal Girls (1973)
• Meatballs (1979)
• Stripes (1981)
• Ghostbusters:
  • Ghostbusters (1984)
  • Ghostbusters II (1989)
• Twins (1988)
• Kindergarten Cop (1990)
• Dave (1993)
• Junior (1994)
• Fathers' Day (1997) (1997)
• Six Days, Seven Nights (1998)
• Evolution (2001)
• My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)
• No Strings Attached (2011)
• Draft Day (2014)

Tropes & Trivia in his works:

• invokedAssociated Composer: Randy Edelman scored several of Reitman's films.
• invokedBreakthrough Hit: Meatballs was a huge success and put him on the map.
• Creator Cameo: He appeared in several of his directed films, such as the voices of Slimer and Zuul in the Ghostbusters films and the Secret High director in No Strings Attached. He also cameoed in Ghostbusters: Afterlife as a ghostly elderly Egon Spengler (as he bore some resemblance to the late Harold Ramis, with some CGI and facial hair to better enhance it).
• invokedProduction Posse:
  • Before Ghostbusters, he worked on Meatballs and Stripes with Bill Murray and Harold Ramis.
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in four of his films (Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Dave and Junior).
  • Sigourney Weaver played in the first two Ghostbusters films and in Dave.
• What Could Have Been:
  • He was attached to direct a film adaptation of Batman entitled The Batman with a script by Tom Mankiewicz in the early 1980s.
  • He was originally attached to produce and potentially direct a film based on Wonder Woman in the mid-1990s.
  • In 2000, he was considered to direct the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone before Chris Columbus was selected.
  • He was originally scheduled to direct Ghostbusters 3 before Harold Ramis' death in February 2014 (Bill Murray's reluctance was a heavy factor as well).
  • He had originally planned to make a sequel to his film Evolution (2001) back in 2013.
  • He was originally scheduled to produce an animated series based on Ghostbusters entitled Ghostbusters: Ecto Force before it was put on hold.
  • He was scheduled to direct a sequel to his film Twins (1988) entitled Triplets before his death in February 2022.

---