The Problem with Bill Murray
I think Bill Murray is a comic genius but I have always been deeply skeptical of the actor’s cult of personality.
Murray worshippers don’t just see him as a uniquely gifted performer who has appeared in some of the greatest and most iconic movies of the past fifty years. They see him as a folk hero with much to teach us about how to live.
Legends abound depicting the Groundhog Day star less as an eccentric celebrity than a magical sprite who spreads mischief and laughter everywhere he goes.
One that stands out in my mind involves Murray hopping behind a bar a while back, to the rapturous delight of anyone lucky enough to be there that night, and serving everyone shots of tequila regardless of what they ordered.
In story after story, the Caddyshack cut-up briefly enters the life of a common person shocked and dazzled by his star-power, does something unique and wild, then tells the gobsmacked fan that if they tell anybody what just happened no one would believe them.
Are these stories true? I have no idea. With a guy like Murray it is difficult, if not impossible, to separate the man from the legend. They are supposed to make Murray look good, a live-wire man of the people whose inspiration and energy cannot be contained by even the biggest screen.
But when I read stories like that, it just makes him seem like an asshole. They’re supposed to be positive and ingratiating, but in the context of #MeToo, ignoring the stated wishes of bar patrons in favor of giving them what you think they should drink and telling a stranger that no one will believe them if they share a preposterous-seeming anecdote doesn’t seem quite so innocuous.
Murray’s combativeness has similarly been romanticized and exalted. There are few pieces of Saturday Night Live history more iconic than the legendary moment when Chevy Chase returned to host, they got into a fistfight and Murray legendarily delivered one of the greatest and most unforgettable insults in all of pop culture, famously calling Chase a “medium talent.”
It’s a great, ballsy line everybody loves because everybody hates Chevy Chase. The comedy world of the 1970s was a wild place but I would argue that you should probably not get into a physical altercation with a professional colleague even if they are Chevy Chase.
Chase’s subsequent beefs aren’t as revered. But when Murray butted heads with Richard Dreyfuss on the set of What About Bob? and with Lucy Liu when making Charlie’s Angels it was generally seen as a sign of authenticity.
We saw Murray as a real-life Groucho Marx forever enraging the Margaret Dumonts of the world. Who doesn’t want to be on Groucho Marx’s side? Who wants to be a snob at war with slobs?
I remember reading an epic profile of Harold Ramis that made it seem like the co-screenwriter and director of many of Murray’s best movies was very eager to work with Murray again but that his Stripes costar did not want to collaborate for reasons only he seemed to understand.
Everybody has their reasons but it seems a shame to break up one of the greatest comic partnerships of all time for reasons that are hard to understand.
So when I read that Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut was being halted because of something Murray had done I was disappointed but not surprised.
Details on the incident are scarce to the point of being non-existent. We don’t know what happened or which actress made the complaint or why.
This lack of information makes it easy for people to assume that if the reason for a movie being halted is not made public then it must not be for a legitimate at all.
Murray is one of the most beloved living Americans. Of course his fans are going to give him the benefit of the doubt in a situation where so little is known.
The legend of Bill Murray is that the rules that apply to lesser mortals do not apply to him, that he occupies a higher, weirder realm unknowable to anyone other than geniuses.
In a post #MeToo world, that is a big problem. There are more rules than ever before and you cannot choose to ignore them because they seem stupid or don’t fit into your anarchic, rebellious worldview.
I sincerely hope that whatever happened on the set of the troubled film was nothing serious. For all my skepticism, I still hold Murray in high esteem. When I read an interview with Murray about the situation I was impressed.
It seemed like he was owning his behavior and trying to resolve the conflict so that filming could resume.
Then I felt like I was falling for the Murray charm, that I was allowing him to control the narrative before it had negative consequences beyond a major motion picture stopping production because of a man’s actions.
I still want to believe in Murray but I also think it would be a good thing if we didn’t deify people for being unprofessional, unpredictable, combative and indifferent to the emotions and desires of those around them.
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