Dan Aykroyd marked Bill Murray's 76th birthday with a wild set story: two police motorcycles, sirens on, and New York's most famous park all to themselves.
Murray turned 76 on Sept. 21. Days later, Aykroyd, 74, posted a tribute on Instagram calling him "the greatest comedy leading man of our time."
One night shooting Ghostbusters II, Aykroyd wrote, the pair took two fully equipped police motorcycles from the movie's own motor pool.
They spent about an hour chasing each other around a closed Central Park, with full lights and sirens running the whole time.
Did anyone get in trouble? Aykroyd's answer: no consequences. "After all, we were Ghostbusters." The sequel hit theaters in June 1989.
Both films were shot around Manhattan. The Tribeca firehouse of Hook & Ladder 8 played the team's headquarters and is still a fan stop today.
Aykroyd was an original Saturday Night Live cast member from 1975 to 1979. Murray joined the show in January 1977, and the two have been close ever since.
Aykroyd co-wrote Ghostbusters (1984) with Harold Ramis and played Ray Stantz. Murray played Peter Venkman, the wisecracking heart of the team.
The story fits Murray's legend as Hollywood's great prankster, and it's a rare glimpse of how loose the Ghostbusters set really was in 1989.
With Ramis gone since 2014 and director Ivan Reitman since 2022, Aykroyd, Murray and Ernie Hudson returned for Afterlife (2021) and Frozen Empire (2024).
Nearly 40 years later, the best Ghostbusters story may be the one that never made the film. Happy 76th, Bill.