"I just look back and go like, I can't believe we went through that," he says. "It seems so silly. In the sober light of day, I hope that some of the people who were so up in arms just go, 'Wow, that was really dumb.'"

He says despite the vitriol at the time, the only fallout he has received is all positive, with a multitude of messages about women and girls dressed up as their heroine ghostbuster or inspired to go in to science.

The biggest affirmation of the movie's impact, he says, was winning the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice award for favourite movie in March, beating Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Captain America: Civil War among others.

"To me that was the greatest victory because after having two-and-a-half years of a bunch of guys telling me 'thanks for ruining my childhood' to go, well, maybe your childhood got ruined but here's a bunch of kids, especially young girls but also young boys, for whom this was a positive thing in their childhood.

"I'm very happy with it - I just wish that my cast and I didn't have to have gone through what we did."

For Feig, despite occupying the R-rated space and delivering films liberally sprinkled with hilarious boundary-busting moments such as in Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013) and Spy (2015), it's all about sending a positive message.

His latest comedy, Snatched, features Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn as a mother and daughter reconnecting on a holiday in South America who fall victim to a kidnap attempt. And despite a richly drawn supporting cast including Wanda Sykes, Joan Cusack and Ike Barinholtz and its jaw-droppingly raucous and bawdy comedy, it's the relationship between the mother and daughter that's at the core of the film's charm, he says.

"If you think about it, that relationship hasn't been portrayed that much on screen, and when it has been portrayed it's been so contentious and so dysfunctional that mothers and daughters walk away feeling terrible about themselves," he says.

The idea for Snatched was sparked by the experience of writer Katie Dippold, who also worked with Feig on The Heat and Ghostbusters, with her own mother. In the film, Hawn and Schumer play women struggling a little with their place in life who strike a new bond as their trip descends into chaos.

"Obviously the biggest thing is we want to make sure that everything's funny," says Feig, who produced the film. "But we [also] wanted to make sure that this was real and it wasn't mean-spirited and that it was very much two people who do love each other who just have their issues."

Despite its succession of oh-no-they-didn't gags, Feig says it's not just for shock value - everything is vetted to assess whether it advances the plot, has meaning and is not ill-intentioned.

"I think to me that's the biggest litmus test," he says. "I just don't like movies that are cynical or that don't like their characters and then try to make their characters look bad for no reason. I never want to offend anybody but at the same time we want to have fun with everybody too, but it's that fine line. I never want to make fun of how somebody looks, things that people can't control, that kind of thing. It should be like 'We're all in this together, we can laugh at ourselves but not make each other feel bad.'"

Feig is currently gearing up for his next film, which will begin shooting in the US summer, about which he says he can't give too much away but that it's a different genre for him. He says it's not a serious film, but it's "kind of thriller-ish, a very fun thriller, let's say".

He says the "manifesto" behind all his work, back to his cult TV series Freaks and Geeks in 1999-2000 about a group of students navigating the social minefield of high school, is an anti-bullying, all-inclusive stance.

As one of the leaders in female comedy in Hollywood, his drive to make movies featuring women with strong storylines who aren't defined by their relationship to men is thankfully now less of a novelty than when he first emerged with his breakthrough success in Bridesmaids six years ago.

"For me, it's a lot easier now because people know this is what I do and as far as in Hollywood, everyone is more open to it and you are seeing more things starring women. But if you really hold it up against the landscape of everything, it's still not nearly close enough but the wall has cracked.

"My eternal frustration is: why was there a wall in the first place and why has the wall not fallen down? Why are we still squeezing people through? But I'm not all pessimistic, it's definitely getting better and Hollywood studios are now also trying to hire female directors and get more women behind the camera."

He says it's a slow push but initiatives such as the advocacy group Women in Film's ReFrame program are helping to improve gender parity within film crews.

"But you know, you want to hit a point where the best person for the job is going to get the job, and gender shouldn't ever come into it."

Snatched opens in Australia on May 11.