People always seem to have selective amnesia about Bill Murray. There is enough anecdotal evidence that Murray is a disgusting, disrespectful a–hole, but so many people are like “no, he’s a cool uncle!” He poured alcohol over Mahershala Ali, an observant Muslim. He was fired from the Drew Barrymore-produced Charlie’s Angels franchise because he verbally abused Lucy Liu in front of the entire cast and crew. His ex-wife said he was physically and emotionally abusive. There are plenty of stories of non-celebrity people who have had horrid interactions with him too. Bill Murray is not a good guy. And it looks like he abused another coworker.
Following the news that production was suspended on the Searchlight film Being Mortal, sources tell Deadline the suspension had to do with a complaint made against star Bill Murray for inappropriate behavior.
It is unknown at this time what Murray’s involvement in the project will be going forward as the investigation remains active. Insiders add that Aziz Ansari — who is starring, writing and making his directorial debut on the film alongside his partner Youree Henley — was not a part of the complaint, nor was co-star Seth Rogen.
Searchlight said it does not comment during ongoing investigations. The complaint was filed last week, production was halted on Monday, and a decision ultimately was made to suspend production going forward as the investigation continues and next steps are decided on. Cast and crew were told about the production being suspended last night in a letter sent out by the studio.
The film is based on Atul Gawande’s nonfiction book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Principal photography had started March 28, and sources say it was halfway through before the production halted this week. The plan was to release the film in 2023. It is unknown at this time if the suspension will affect the release.
Just recast the role and move on. I actually appreciate the fact that the studio is taking this seriously, that they got a complaint about Murray’s behavior and moved within days to suspend the production and investigate. That says, to me, that Murray was likely abusive to someone with some significance on the production. Just because… I can’t imagine a studio taking those kinds of steps if Murray was abusive towards a PA. That’s just my assumption though, maybe I’m wrong. I’m not wrong about Murray though, that guy is a f–king douche.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Bill Murray attend the “New Worlds: The Cradle Of Civilization” photocall during the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 16, 2021 in Cannes, France.,Image: 621831541, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel / Avalon
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- Bill Murray at The 2022 Governors Awards in The Ray Dolby Ballroom on Friday, March 25, 2022 at Ovation Hollywood, CA.,Image: 673246895, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: ©A.M.P.A.S. All rights reserved., Model Release: no, Credit line: sb / Avalon
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- Bill Murray arrives on the red carpet of the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.,Image: 673570434, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Avalon Licensing Ltd. do not claim any Copyright of the attached image WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
Bill Murray is always one of those people that I wonder how he gets away with it. There have been plenty of stories about him for a long time. I guess it’s because it’s been “cool” for a long time to find him funny and view him as some kind of national treasure? Granted, I was not familiar with most of his work outside of Wes Anderson’s films (though I always found it kind of telling that Anderson always cast him in roles that kind of let him be an a-hole, which sees far truer to life then his other roles).
Our last decade or so can be summed up in one scene from the Dark Knight:
“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
Christopher Nolan was a prophet with this one. 😬
@mia4s thanks for sharing the quote. In the context of Batman I interpret that to mean that some heroes who are truly great will see society and the media turn against them for things that may be more passing or even overblown in nature as the media and social media can so easily villify. Things that aren’t so black and white.
Bill Murray’s undoing is entirely of his own doing and very black and white, don’t abuse your power or other people, in the workplace or anywhere. He should never have been given the mantle of hero.
Oh that’s definitely what it was in the movie. In the context of MeToo, TimesUp etc. I can repurpose it in my mind to all these celebrities who were celebrated while behaving awfully, and who if they had died or retired just a few short years ago would have been remembered fondly (rightly or not). So I guess in my mind the quote is almost a warning. Can’t be decent? Retire, go away, or your legacy is toast.
@mia4s love that can’t be decent then retire!
I like many of Bill’s movies, but I have heard the rumours about him and believe that he is not the nicest person in real life.
Things have changed in society A LOT over the last few years. Behaviour and actions that would have been ignored or brushed over are not tolerated anymore. Basically, Bill can no longer get away with his behaviour and bullying any longer. His image as the “cranky old man” no longer protects him.
I do enjoy Bill’s work, but NO ONE should get a way with making other people’s working life hard, just because they can.
Same here. I’d only heard a few reports here and there about him being ‘crochety’ or something like that. This recent development has been eye-opening.
Aziz was part of the me too movement (although what I remember was that it was more like social obliviousness rather than some of the more blatant, deliberate acts.) If he’s trying to rehab his career, it makes sense that he wouldn’t tolerate any kind of misstep that could make it a flop.
Side note, this was a very interesting book and I wonder how they’re going to make it a cohesive movie. Some of what Atul writes about comes from an obviously privileged place and has a lot of bias. For example, he only interviews the owner of a nursing facility while making some bold claims and you have to wonder what all the overworked and underpaid employees would say. He also makes some great points about identifying what matters for your quality of life.
Yeah I remember the story about Aziz and I just found the whole story really hinged on really, really bad communication between the woman who went on that date with him and Aziz. Aziz didn’t come across as a creepy predator but just really really oblivious and unaware that his date was so uncomfortable. However I’m sure the coverage of that whole incident has now made him hyper aware so any instance of any remotely bad behavior puts him on high alert and I’m not surprised production was shut down so quickly.
I’d like to see Aziz succeed for all of the reasons above, so yes, fire Bill Murray, replace him, and restart filming. There’s no reason that investigation can’t continue concurrently.
I am one of the people who thought Bill was a cool uncle, but I have seen the light.
Exactly, AmelieOriginal. Fire him and move on. There are a ton of white male actors of this age. Find a less problematic one, Martin Short is always the one that comes to my mind first.
Being Mortal is one of my all-time favourite books. If you have aging parents, if you are facing a difficult medical diagnosis, it’s an incredible read. Aziz and Bill being attached to the movie based on it is just the worst. Skip the movie and just read the book, it’s fantastic.
Ruining your legacy, right at the very end. Men just cannot help it.
You got away with bullshit your whole life, then a reckoning came for all your peers. And you thought, well, I’m the exception, I’m special because… ? And then you tried it one last time.
Studios have to be able to insure their actors to get funding. For the longest time, no one would insure RDJ. Why on earth could this production get insured with Bill Murray in the cast? That premium should’ve been prohibitive.
Hmm, either against someone with clout (less likely imo) or something really reallyyyy gross against a young nobody. I have a bad feeling about it.
Glad the production is one that a) someone feels comfortable reporting Bill Murray (I’m another one who does. Not. Get. the weird adoration/ myth making around him) and b) they’ve acted swiftly and strongly. Wishing them all the best honestly.
He has always been unfunny,uncharismatic and a big old weirdo.
Guys like him have always gotten away with terrible behavior and have never been held accountable. Thank goodness times have changed. In fact, I had a final meeting with one of my interns who’s graduating soon. I told her to never put up with a toxic environment or people when she finds a job. You don’t have to put up with it. She told me with conviction— don’t worry. I won’t. It’s my message to all young people entering the workforce!
I saw this story yesterday and as soon as I read his name I assumed it would be him. Will this be enough to stop him? I doubt it, as others have said he has a long and well documented history of behaving terribly and the consequences have never been far-reaching for him. Rich, old, white guy. I know society is evolving but money and fame still carry so much weight before we even get into the political culture wars trying to tear everything apart.
Clearly I’m not in the most optimistic mood this Friday! Sorry, my mother (French) has just announced that she won’t be coming to see me this weekend to vote in the presidential election (she has to come to the city where I live in the UK if she wants to vote) because she ‘doesn’t like either of them’. It’s making me sad and angry on so many levels.
All this douchebag has to say to his agent is, ‘do not bring anything across my desk where the director and cast is not white and the female cast is thin, young and white. Otherwise, I will be a racist abuser on set for fun because I can get away with it.’
Something tells me his agent still won’t have a problem finding him work and that upsets me to no end.
I think he doesn’t have an agent? Or he used to not? I don’t know if it was a shtick, but supposedly he just had a voicemail that people could call to pitch projects. It’s how he ended up in the Garfield movie
Someone negotiates his contracts. Whether a agent or a lawyer. There is a middleman.
Yeah, he’s a nasty piece of work. It’s about time he’s called out on his crap behavior.
You are absolutely not wrong about it having to be someone way higher up. This POS injured a friend of mine (who is a member of the Academy!) and he claimed he was just joking around (I didn’t witness this but I trust her). Nothing happened to him.
He is loathsome.
brings up issue of why they all acted so shocked over a slap when they’re just fine with abuse on set.
Didn’t you hear? It’s because “The Slap” happened on live TV! Where we could all see it and be traumatized! *eyeroll* I guess that is the bar for Hollywood and the Academy.
Hahah yeah, they tried that so hard and yet we heard : “a black man did it” as the excuse. Huh.
I always kind of thought that he didn’t have to work too hard on his Todd character (to Gilda Radner’s Lisa Loopner) on SNL- that he really was something of a dickhead and enjoyed effing with people/ especially women *too much*.
Ben Dreyfuss was tweeting yesterday about incidents Murray had with his dad and producer Lauren Ziskin on the set of What About Bob? that apparently shut down production at one point, so this isn’t new at all. He knocked Ziskin’s sunglasses off her face and threw an ashtray at Dreyfuss (who, iirc, has his own history of ahole behavior).
He always seemed like a gross, arrogant jerk so this comes as no surprise. I hope whoever he hurt or harassed is okay. I’m glad he’s being held accountable here and I hope they just recast him. It should be pretty straightforward — you’re abusive to someone in the workplace, you get fired.
I hate him so much. I’ve always gotten the sense that he played the part of the not-so-lovable curmudgeon so well because he wasn’t acting—that really was his personality. I don’t find him in any way funny or endearing. Now I know that he’s a creep too.
His behavior has been abhorrent for a long time. But then he crashes a wedding and takes selfies with the wedding party and random guests in his drunken stupor, it goes viral, and he becomes a national hero again. He’s an abusive jerk. His issue is he doesn’t live in 2022. I may be wrong but I think I read somewhere he doesn’t even have a phone or email. So he completely missed the Me Too Movement. He missed Black Lives Matter. Most people, even crap people like Leah Michelle realized their racism wasn’t a good look and tried to pretend to be pro-Black after the fact (Twitter clapped back with the receipts but the point is she had enough sense to try revisionist history and leave a pro-Black footprint). Even people like Leah Michelle were able to read the room – technology, social media, etc. was there to help them along. This guy will remain clueless. Sadly, he will keep getting work.
Thank you, Kaiser! It pisses me off so much at how people have selective amnesia over Bill Murray’s long catalogue of sh*tty behaviour. Even post me too, it was pushed under the rug – he apparently subjected his former wife to abuse, but we just skip over it? I get similar vibes from Dustin Hoffman. And while we’re on the topic – there was never a satisfactory explanation re: Stanley Tucci’s shitty bullying borderline harassment of Ann Hathaway during filming of Devil Wears Prada. It’s also much easier for everyone to gush over his cooking/cocktail skills…
I am interested in how the role of artist will be changing, at least in the Eurocentric, male dominated scene. We hear so many stories of abuse and exploitative behavior in the arts – especially the performing arts – in the name of creating great art. I do believe Murray has tried to bring a sense of art to his work when he can. I believed Murray’s acting craft and his comedic ability until now. How much diva behavior do we tolerate? Is being a viscious turd to others the only way you can reach into your creativity? really? Hollow egoism.
I heard the complaint came from Keke Palmer. Dunno if it’s true though.