Wes Anderson Doubles Down on Bill Murray, Despite His Absence in ‘Asteroid City’
After initially landing a role in the project, Wes Anderson feature film since the director’s debut film Bottle Rocket when Asteroid City releases later this month. But Anderson assures us that Murray hasn’t lost his seat at the symmetrical table.
Much hay has been made of Murray settled a complaint over inappropriate behavior toward a female staffer on another project for $100,000.
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Earlier today, Anderson spoke to Steve Carell.
“Bill was supposed to be in (Asteroid City). It’s not a great thing to say, ‘Well this person was supposed to play this part.’ Once someone gets a part, you’re supposed to say, ‘Well, this is their part,’” Anderson explained, artfully dancing around hurting Michael Scott’s feelings. “But in this case, because there was some confusion about what happened with Bill. He was supposed to play the motel manager who Steve Carell plays, and Bill got COVID four days before he was supposed to start shooting.”
Murray was apparently in Ireland when he first caught COVID, and Anderson quickly realized that the actors with whom Murray was supposed to be in scenes would be out of production and on to other projects by the time he would clear COVID protocols. Anderson scrambled to replace him and “Steve Carell came in quite suddenly,” earning the role and knocking it out of the park.
Anderson clarified that, on a personal level, his earliest champion and most enduring cast member will never fall out of favor. “My experience with Bill is so extensive. Bill was such a great er of me from the very beginning,” Anderson continued. “I don’t want to speak about somebody else’s experience, but he’s really part of my family. You know, he’s my daughter’s godfather. In fact, he actually baptized her. He’s the one who splashed the water.”
The past year has seen a string of former co-stars and collaborators explaining their horror stories from working with the notoriously grumpy comedy star, but Anderson’s seemingly positive experiences don’t differ all that much from the narrative surrounding Murray’s misbehavior — he may not have been her godfather, but we wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Murray tried to make Geena Davis call him daddy.
