Bill Murray allegations build after 'Being Mortal' update
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New allegations of Bill Murray behaving inappropriately on sets have continued to surface in the wake of a report about "Being Mortal," the production suspended in April when a complaint was filed against the actor.
Last week, the media company Puck published an article alleging that Murray, 72, had kissed and straddled a "much younger woman" working with him on the Atul Gawande adaptation helmed by first-time feature director Aziz Ansari. Murray said his actions toward the production staffer were "jestful," according to Puck, whereas she interpreted the unwanted behavior as sexual and filed a complaint.
The Puck article added that another staffer who witnessed the encounter also filed a report, and that the incident eventually reached Searchlight Pictures, which halted production on the film. It has not resumed. At the time, Murray publicly described what had happened as a "a difference of opinion." According to Puck, he paid the woman just over $100,000 to settle the matter and maintain confidentiality.
Searchlight has not returned The Washington Post's request for comment, nor has Murray's lawyer.
The day after the Puck report, HarperCollins released actress Geena Davis's memoir "Dying of Politeness," which coincidentally contains multiple allegations against Murray. Davis writes that while she and Murray were working on the 1990 film "Quick Change," he "insisted" on using a massage device on her when they first met despite her saying she did not want him to: "He wouldn't relent," she recalls in the book.
Davis also describes Murray, who co-directed the film, screaming at her in front of "more than 300 people." She says she felt uncomfortable during their joint appearance on "The Arsenio Hall Show," when he tried to pull down her spaghetti strap. The actress recently told People magazine that she shared the anecdotes because "I figure it's sort of rather universally known that he could be difficult to work with."
"I don't feel like I'm busting him in a way that will necessarily shock him," she continued. "I think he knows very well the way he can behave."
While dropping in Thursday on SiriusXM's "Jim Norton and Sam Roberts" show, comedian Rob Schneider recalled the time a filmmaker told him it was hard to know "which Bill Murray you're going to get."
"The nice Bill Murray?" Schneider continued. "Or the tough Bill Murray?"
Schneider, who was on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1990s, expanded on his own experiences with Murray, a former "SNL" cast member who returned as host during Schneider's stint. Murray "absolutely hated us - I mean, seething," Schneider said, noting that Murray especially disliked Chris Farley and Adam Sandler.
The same day Schneider went on the show, actor Seth Green claimed on the YouTube show "Good Mythical Morning" that Murray dropped him into a trash can backstage at "SNL" when Green was 9 years old.
Green said Murray was hosting the episode and allegedly became upset upon seeing Green, who appeared in a sketch, perched on the arm of a piece of furniture that Murray had deemed "my chair." Green said he refused to move from where he was seated, upon which Murray "picked me up by my ankles, held me upside down ... dangled me over a trash can and he was like, 'The trash goes in the trash can.'"
"I was screaming and I swung my arms, flailed wildly," Green continued. "He dropped me in the trash can, and the trash can falls over. I was horrified. I ran away, hid under the table in my dressing room and just cried."
Murray has faced allegations of on-set misconduct before, most prominently by his "Charlie's Angels" co-star Lucy Liu. While on a Los Angeles Times podcast last year, Liu remembered Murray lashing out at her over a rewritten scene in the 2000 film, despite the fact that she "had probably the least amount of privilege in terms of creatively participating [in such decisions] at that time." She said he began to "sort of hurl insults" at her during rehearsal, and that his language was "inexcusable and unacceptable."
"I stood up for myself, and I don't regret it," she continued. "Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there's no need to condescend or to put other people down."
Searchlight has not publicly commented on whether production will restart on "Being Mortal" after the situation with Murray. Actress Keke Palmer, also a star in the film, recently said she hopes it will, but acknowledged - without naming Murray - that the script would likely require "a major rewrite."
"If somebody could figure it out, it would be Aziz," she told Variety at an Academy Museum event held Sunday. "Obviously we got cut short at a certain point, but I will say that I am pretty devastated. It's an amazing film. If there is some way to be able to complete [it], salvage it, I would want to do it."
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