Bill Murray

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Because the man has earned his own damn thread.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

I'll start...

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/celebrities/201008/bill-murray-dan-fierman-gq-interview

You have a lot of lines in this one that get tons of laughs I doubt were on the page. It's all in the rhythm, the delivery. How do you pitch something like that? How do you make something out of nothing?

I have developed a kind of different style over the years. I hate trying to re-create a tone or a pitch. Saying, "I want to make it sound like I made it sound the last time"? That's insane, because the last time doesn't exist. It's only this time. And everything is going to be different this time. There's only now. And I don't think a director, as often as not, knows what is going to play funny anyway. As often as not, the right one is the one that they're surprised by, so I don't think that they have the right tone in their head. And I think that good actors always—or if you're being good, anyway—you're making it better than the script. That's your fucking job. It's like, Okay, the script says this? Well, watch this. Let's just roar a little bit. Let's see how high we can go.

But you asked how you get the comic pitch. Well, obviously a lot of it is rhythm. And as often as not, it's the surprising rhythm. In life and in movies, you can usually guess what someone is going to say—you can actually hear it—before they say it. But if you undercut that just a little, it can make you fall off your chair. It's small and simple like that. You're always trying to get your distractions out of the way and be as calm as you can be [breathes in and out slowly], and emotion will just drive the machine. It will go through the machine without being interrupted, and it comes out in a rhythm that's naturally funny. And that funny rhythm is either humorous or touching. It can be either one. But it's always a surprise. I really don't know what's going to come out of my mouth.

You know, my younger brother will absolutely murder me if I don't ask you this question....

All right. I should worry.

Is the third Ghostbusters movie happening? What's the story with that?

It's all a bunch of crock. It's a crock. There was a story—and I gotta be careful here, I don't want to hurt someone's feelings. When I hurt someone's feelings, I really want to hurt them. [laughs] Harold Ramis said, Oh, I've got these guys, they write on The Office, and they're really funny. They're going to write the next Ghostbusters. And they had just written this movie that he had directed.

Year One.

Year One. Well, I never went to see Year One, but people who did, including other Ghostbusters, said it was one of the worst things they had ever seen in their lives. So that dream just vaporized. That was gone. But it's the studio that really wants this thing. It's a franchise. It's a franchise, and they made a whole lot of money on Ghostbusters.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Just out of curiosity, since you crossed paths way back in the day: Have you seen Community? What do you think of what Chevy Chase is doing?

I'm hoping it's funny. It looks kind of funny. Chevy in life can really be funny. I don't see him that often anymore, but in life he's a hell of a lot more fun than I am—he's always going; he really, really, really wants to make people laugh. But I haven't watched it. What about the other show that has the girl from Saturday Night Live?

Parks and Recreation? That is the best comedy on TV right now, to my eyes.

When are these things on, anyway?

Thursday nights.

Both of 'em?

Yeah. Eight and eight thirty.

That's good. I want those things to work, but I'm out of touch. I have no idea. I never saw the original Office. I never saw this Office. I never even saw Clerks. Like I never saw, what's-his-name, Larry David's show.

Curb Your Enthusiasm?

No! The other one. With the other guy.

Seinfeld?

Seinfeld! I never saw Seinfeld.

Come on.

Really! I never saw Seinfeld until the final episode, and that's the only one I saw. And it was terrible. I'm watching, thinking, "This isn't funny at all. It's terrible!"

So what the hell do you watch, then? Sports?

I watch sports, I watch movies, Current TV on the satellite—I kind of like that. Honestly, I'm just easily bored. C-SPAN can be really great. Like the night Obama won the election, C-SPAN was the greatest. There were no announcers, just Chicago. It was just that crowd in Grant Park, and it was just fuckin' jazz. You know, it was just wow. And that's my town, you know? It was just: "Oh, my God, it's gonna happen! [getting genuinely excited] It's gonna happen!" You just saw the pictures of it, like, oh, there's someone from the Northwest Side, there's someone from the South Side, someone from the suburbs. It was the most truly American thing you've ever seen. [pause] Oh God, I get jazzed just thinkin' about it. I don't know anyone that wasn't crying. It was just: Thank God this long national nightmare is over.

[MAD]

I read an article about 10 years ago with Murray where it described an earlier interview he had done with with some kid, still green, been out of journalism school for a short period of time.  Anyway, the kid asked Murray where he grew up and he said, "Wilmette, IL, a small, mining town north of Chicago."  The reporter took Murray at his word and published it.

Still my favorite Bill Murray antecdote.  I heard he's becoming a douche in his old age, but the man can do no wrong in my eyes.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

I heard he's becoming a douche in his old age...

Slander.

[MAD]

I heard he's becoming a douche in his old age...

Slander.

Agreed.  Shame on me for reporting such hearsay in the first place...

[BH]

I've heard huey is becoming a douche in his old age.

[PenPho]

Story on Yahoo yesterday about Bill Murray agreeing to do Garfield because he thought it was Joel Coen, of Coen Brothers fame.

"I looked at the ['Garfield'] script, and it said, 'So-and-so and Joel Coen.' And I thought...well, I love those Coens! They're funny," Murray says in the GQ article. "So I sorta read a few pages of it and thought, Yeah, I'd like to do that."

But as any film buff can probably tell you, the writer in question wasn't actually Joel Coen, the Coen Brother-writer of "The Big Lebowski" and "Fargo." The "Garfield" writer was Joel Cohen (with an "h"), a writer of not-very-Coen-esque movies "Cheaper by the Dozen," "Toy Story," and "Money Talks." Regardless, Bill Murray told GQ he was shocked when he discovered his error.

"So I sat down and watched the whole thing, and I kept saying, 'Who the hell cut this thing? Who did this? What ... was Coen thinking?' And then they explained it to me: It wasn't written by that Joel Coen."

Still, he made lemonade out of it...referring to Jennifer Love-Hewitt.

"At least they had what's-her-name. The mind reader, pretty girl, really curvy girl, body's one in a million? What's her name? Help me. You know who I mean..." Murray said before being reminded of her name. "At least they had her in good-looking clothes. Best thing about the movie."

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Story on Yahoo yesterday about Bill Murray agreeing to do Garfield because he thought it was Joel Coen, of Coen Brothers fame.

"I looked at the ['Garfield'] script, and it said, 'So-and-so and Joel Coen.' And I thought...well, I love those Coens! They're funny," Murray says in the GQ article. "So I sorta read a few pages of it and thought, Yeah, I'd like to do that."

But as any film buff can probably tell you, the writer in question wasn't actually Joel Coen, the Coen Brother-writer of "The Big Lebowski" and "Fargo." The "Garfield" writer was Joel Cohen (with an "h"), a writer of not-very-Coen-esque movies "Cheaper by the Dozen," "Toy Story," and "Money Talks." Regardless, Bill Murray told GQ he was shocked when he discovered his error.

"So I sat down and watched the whole thing, and I kept saying, 'Who the hell cut this thing? Who did this? What ... was Coen thinking?' And then they explained it to me: It wasn't written by that Joel Coen."

Still, he made lemonade out of it...referring to Jennifer Love-Hewitt.

"At least they had what's-her-name. The mind reader, pretty girl, really curvy girl, body's one in a million? What's her name? Help me. You know who I mean..." Murray said before being reminded of her name. "At least they had her in good-looking clothes. Best thing about the movie."

This is all from the same interview I linked above, dummy.

[PenPho]

Story on Yahoo yesterday about Bill Murray agreeing to do Garfield because he thought it was Joel Coen, of Coen Brothers fame.

"I looked at the ['Garfield'] script, and it said, 'So-and-so and Joel Coen.' And I thought...well, I love those Coens! They're funny," Murray says in the GQ article. "So I sorta read a few pages of it and thought, Yeah, I'd like to do that."

But as any film buff can probably tell you, the writer in question wasn't actually Joel Coen, the Coen Brother-writer of "The Big Lebowski" and "Fargo." The "Garfield" writer was Joel Cohen (with an "h"), a writer of not-very-Coen-esque movies "Cheaper by the Dozen," "Toy Story," and "Money Talks." Regardless, Bill Murray told GQ he was shocked when he discovered his error.

"So I sat down and watched the whole thing, and I kept saying, 'Who the hell cut this thing? Who did this? What ... was Coen thinking?' And then they explained it to me: It wasn't written by that Joel Coen."

Still, he made lemonade out of it...referring to Jennifer Love-Hewitt.

"At least they had what's-her-name. The mind reader, pretty girl, really curvy girl, body's one in a million? What's her name? Help me. You know who I mean..." Murray said before being reminded of her name. "At least they had her in good-looking clothes. Best thing about the movie."

This is all from the same interview I linked above, dummy.

I assumed you had just copied and pasted the entire thing you were linking.

[Internet Apex]

It was the most truly American thing you've ever seen. [pause]

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Also, what's his excuse for this?

[Brownie]

Year One.

Year One. Well, I never went to see Year One, but people who did, including other Ghostbusters, said it was one of the worst things they had ever seen in their lives. So that dream just vaporized. That was gone.

I've seen parts of Year One, Bill, and trust me, your people are right. You'd be better off watching Caddyshack 2.

[BH]

Why is this not in the movie thread?

[Quality Start Machine]

Also, what's his excuse for this?

Educated guess: bar tab.