I was a young actor and new in my career, but I knew enough to know this was either going to be a disaster or really good,” admits Demi Moore with a smile, taking Buff back to the moment she first read the script for romantic classic Ghost. Three decades have passed since the release of director Jerry Zucker’s tender supernatural comedy - a movie that introduced us to a death-defying love and forever changed our relationship with pottery wheels. Sealed with The Righteous Brothers’ crooning hit ‘Unchained Melody’ and peppered with a host of misty-eyed lines that are all-too-quotable, this genre-spanning favourite not only went on to become the highest-grossing film of 1990, but a stone-cold comfort-viewing classic. However, according to its star, Ghost’s unexpected afterlife was far from guaranteed. “On paper I was like ‘Wait a second, this is a romance, a thriller and a comedy?’ It was definitely a roll of the dice.”
Moore’s scepticism wasn’t misplaced. Penned by screenwriter Bruce Joel Reuben, Ghost combines emotion, tragedy, humour and spirituality to tell a modern story of love, loss and grief. It follows Sam (Patrick Swayze) and Molly (Moore), a smitten couple whose time together is cruelly cut short when a fumbled mugging leaves Sam dead. But his spirit lingers; Molly’s recently departed hubby soon discovers he’s been betrayed by his Wall Street partner and best friend Carl (Tony Goldwyn) and must rely on the help of reluctant psychic Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) to ensure his grieving girlfriend doesn’t fall victim to his ex-pal’s increasingly desperate crimes.