Bill Murray is certainly one of Hollywood’s most unique personalities, being an exceptionally talented actor and comedian, he has made a name for himself through his work in massive projects like Zombieland, Lost in Translation, Groundhog Day, and Caddyshack. He has also been nominated for an Academy Award, in the category of Best Actor. The distinctiveness of his private life is what makes him stand out from the rest of the film industry.
The actor has been a contributing member of Hollywood for over three decades now, and despite this, he does not have an agent or manager, receiving offers and roles through his personal phone number and voicemail. While this has helped him secure some of his most iconic roles, it would seem that this has led to some confusion, and regrets throughout his career, including his work in the Garfield series, as well as his return to the Ghostbusters franchise.
Bill Murray Said Yes to Garfield Because of a Misunderstanding
During an interview on the Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist, Oscar-nominated actor, Bill Murray, talked about how he ended up, getting the role of Garfield in the 2004 film and its sequel, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. When this casting was announced, fans of the actor were perplexed as to what motivated him to join a project like this. The reason for this was the fact that it was completely unlike him to be a part of a project like this.
“I didn’t really read the script and I was like ‘I’d love to try one of these animated movies, it’ll be kinda fun’. I looked at it and saw Joel Cohen, one of my favourites. The Coen Brothers? These guys make great movies, it wasn’t that Joel Coen, it was a different Joel Cohen. I signed up for the one with the silent spelling, I got that Cohen”.
Murray revealed that the reason why he ended up joining this project was because of a misunderstanding, that was caused as he did not read the script. He revealed that he wanted to be a part of an animated film for a while, and when he noticed that he received a script from Joel Cohen, who is responsible for the screenplay of this film, he said yes immediately, getting excited. The reason for this excitement was the fact that the actor was confusing Cohen with Joel Coen, part of the Coen brothers duo, two of the most respected filmmakers in Hollywood, responsible for projects like Fargo and No Country for Old Men.
Bill Murray Was Manipulated Into Joining Ghostbusters 2
This isn’t the first time something like this happened to Bill Murray as the actor revealed during an interview with IndieWire, something similar, revolving around the lines of misunderstandings and trickery, happened on the set of the second Ghostbusters film. He revealed that he was very reluctant to make the 1989 sequel of the iconic film. He added that he was in absolutely no hurry for this, however, he was manipulated into being a part of the project. He was pitched an idea, which he liked, and soon after this, the entire cast, who had gotten extremely close throughout shooting the first film, was put in a room together.
“Someone outfoxed me anyway. I don’t know if Ivan [Reitman, director] set it up, but they got us all back together in a room, and really, we hadn’t been together in a room since the movie came out and it was just really, really fun to be together,” Murray said. “We were really funny together.” he added, “It ended up not being the story they wrote,” he revealed. “They got us in the sequel under false pretenses.”
Murray revealed that this was the first time everyone had gotten back together in a room after the first film came out, so there was a lot to catch up on. He revealed that they had a lot of fun together in this interaction and so, he said yes to the project. Unfortunately, the rug was pulled from beneath his feet and the actor found out, once production had started, that the initial idea that he had agreed to had been scrapped and everyone who agreed to the project had been manipulated into joining.
