McKenna Grace Opens Up About What It Was Really Like To Film Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Many franchises have led to young stars stepping into the shoes of icons that made them; Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland, whoever ends up taking over the role of James Bond from Daniel Crag, just to name a few. There's definitely a lot of pressure for the newly appointed torch bearers to keep the fire burning for beloved screen works. McKenna Grace finds herself among this weighty bunch with her role in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife."

As much as there's been mostly positive reactions for the third film tapping into that sweet dose of nostalgia (not counting the 2016 "Ghostbusters" reboot that fans roundly rejected), Grace is getting plenty of shout-outs for her appearance as Phoebe Spengler, the granddaughter of Egon Spengler (originally played by the late Harold Ramis). In fact, ComicBookMovie.com lauded her as "insanely talented" and gave her specific performance five stars.

The new film sees Phoebe and her older brother Trevor ("Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard) moving into their grandpa's old abandoned home, only to discover some ghostly secrets underneath. And while she may have played it cool in front of the camera (and wielding a proton pack, why wouldn't you?), it turns out that Grace was kind of in shock that she was being hired as a brand new Ghostbuster.

Speaking to Variety about the "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," McKenna Grace revealed that her inner fangirl was close to breaking out on occasion. "It was actually really hard to stay so stoic and focused because of how excited I was to be in the same vicinity as Ecto-1 and Ivan and Jason," Grace explained. "I just kind of put myself in a totally different mindset, and then they'd yell cut, and I'd go, 'Oh my god! I just shot a ghost!'"

Dealing with the paranormal is hardly anything new for Grace, given her experience as one of the kids fleeing in terror from "The Haunting of Hill House." Perhaps the fear factor took a while to kick in "Afterlife" given she didn't even realize that she was auditioning for the part. "It was just 'Untitled Jason Reitman project,'" she recalled. "And it totally sounded like a Jason Reitman film: A single mom with her son and daughter moves to her estranged father's old farmhouse after he passes away to discover their roots. I started hearing little rumors that it was going to be a 'Ghostbusters' film. I was like, 'That's baloney. No way they're making another!' And I was wrrr-ooong."

It's great to see Grace's enthusiasm for the film and the franchise it's born from, which sounds like it's made itself on screen. You can see how good she is at busting ghosts with "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" scaring cinema screens from today.