As is a growing trend in Hollywood, historical cases of inappropriate behavior on the sets of movies and TV shows,Bill Murrayhas once again become the subject of claims of out-of-order actions while in the middle of productions. The latest details come from actressGeena Daviswho worked with Murray on the 1990 comedy movieQuick Changeand elaborated on more information from her memoir while on the podcast,On with Kara Swisher.
“I went to meet with Bill Murray and his co-director and a producer in a hotel suite. And I came in and went to sit down with everybody sitting there. But Bill Murray popped up and said, “Hey, have you ever tried the thumper?” And I’m like, “What? No. What’s that?” “Well come try it.” “No, no, no.” "Lay down here. I wanna try it on you." I’m like, “No, no, no thank you.” And he keeps at it. And I keep saying “No” to the point where I would’ve had to scream at him, “Stop fucking asking me! I am not doing it. Do you understand?” Which I was far too timid to do. So I perched on the corner of the bed and let him do it, and he did it for like one second, and then didn’t ask how I liked it or anything. So I realized it was just to see if he could force me to do something inappropriate…
We were shooting a huge scene out on an intersection in Manhattan with hundreds of extras and giant crew and all that stuff. And they said, “We’re ready for you to come to set.” And I said, “Well, costumes asked me to wait here one second. Can I do that, or should I come with you?” Seconds later, Bill Murray — in a full clown costume, by the way — slams into the trailer with rage coming out of his eyeballs and starts screaming at me and swearing at me, “Get the fuck out there! What the fuck are you doing? Move! Move!” And he got behind me and screamed in my ear, “Move! Move faster! Move it!” And we’re getting to this intersection where there’s hundreds of people watching this, and he keeps it up and keeps it up until he says, “Stand there,” and points to a mark on the pavement and starts shooting. Talking about it actually, it’s still — it’s very emotional for me because I felt so ashamed, you know, for somebody who wants to do things right. You know?”
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How Relevant Is Bill Murray’s Historical Behavior to His Current Career?
Many stories in Hollywood’s past are not seen in a good light when aired with today’s standards. While Murray’s behavior at the time was clearly disturbing to Davis, stories about spats between theGhostbustersstar and Lucy Liu while filmingCharlie’s Angelshave not impacted his career.
However, Murray has also been caught up in more recent accusations while working on the movieBeing Mortal. In April 2022, the film’s production was suspended when Murray was said to have straddled and kissed a production assistant in a moment that Murray later claimed he had believed was just funny. Still, he apologized and admitted that he may have “misjudged” the situation. With Murray set to make his MCU debut in next month’sAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, there will be a question hanging over how many more stories from Murray’s past are still waiting to be told.
