Second Time Around

With his “Ghostbusters II” sidekicks--Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis--getting the Stay-Puft share of glory, fourth Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson insists: “I don’t feel like an outsider.”

The black graduate of Yale Drama School acknowledges that he’s often overlooked in media coverage, but adds, “There are a lot of reasons for that. They were and are in different places in their careers. They’ve had more success than I have. And in the first movie, the script established them as a unit before I was brought in, as their employee.”

Still, it took Hudson two-and-a-half years to find more movie work after “Ghostbusters.”

“You expect that when you do a film that’s a major blockbuster, it will move your career to another place, but that’s not necessarily true.” He did TV shows and voice-overs before landing a role in “Weeds” with Nick Nolte, and has since worked on “Leviathan” and other features.

Director Ivan Reitman was still doing re-shoots on “II” just two weeks ago, Hudson said, and the four stars are still looping in dialogue.

“The movie will definitely be released June 16,” Hudson added, “but I know Ivan will be working on it up to the last minute.”