Support NeoGAF

[ManaByte]

Bill Murray Gets Candid on 'Ghostbusters' Sequels, 'Groundhog Day', Wes Anderson and More

Bill Murray chats about what lead him to acting, his experience on the set of all of the Ghostbusters movies and more.

collider.com

You’ve participated in every iteration of Ghostbusters.

MURRAY: Yes, that’s true. I did the one that the ladies did, and those are some of my favorite funny people. Those girls are so funny. You talk about improvising, and they did nothing but fire grenades, all day long. I sat in amazement, watching them. They circled the globe. You want a trip around the world, do a scene with those four girls sometime. That was interesting. It’s interesting to be a guy and listen to girls talk. You don’t get that opportunity, all the time, to listen to women at their most direct and frank, especially women who are that funny. I was just happy to be a fly on the wall, most of the day. And there’s gonna be another one. Ivan’s son, Jason, did one. I remember him calling me and saying, “I’ve got an idea for another Ghostbusters. I’ve had this idea for years.” I thought, “What the heck could that possibly be?” I remember him when he was a kid. I remember his Bar Mitzvah. I was like, “What the heck? What does this kid know?” But he had a really, really wonderful idea that he wrote with another wonderful guy that I got to work with, Gil Kenan, who made City of Ember. The two of them wrote a Ghostbusters movie that really brings it back to life. It really has the feel of the first one, more than the second one or the girls’ one. It has a different feel than two out of four.

I think he’s really got something. It was hard. It was really hard. That’s why I think it’s gonna be good. We were just in it for a little while, but it was physically painful. Wearing those packs is extremely uncomfortable. We had batteries the size of batteries. They now have batteries the size of earrings. It’s still a really heavy thing to wear, all the time. The special effects in this one are a lot of wind and dirt in your face, and there was a lot of going down and getting back up. I was like, “What is this? What am I doing? These are like Bulgarian deadlifts, or a Russian kettlebell, getting up and down with this thing on my back.” It was very uncomfortable. Usually, when something has a very high misery quotient, something comes of that and some quality is produced that, if you can capture it and project it, comes on the screen and affects you. I think it comes out sometime in the fall. They’ve delayed it for a year or a year and a half, but I’m glad they did. It will be worth seeing.

 

[belmarduk]

When is this coming out??

 

[Reality Czar]

It probably would have been less physically taxing if he just said yes to Ghostbusters 3 decades ago. That way he could have been a younger man and not some old grumpy fuck complaining about having to work.

Instead of being 70 and not being the star of the movie, you could have been 50 and been one of the leads. But for some reason you held out against it for so long. Why?

I don't really have any sympathy for Bill Murray at all tbh. Dude passed on the opportunity to work with the full group until it was too late and now that Ramis is dead he wants to cash in? Blegh.

 

[Davey Cakes]

I'm excited for this. It sounds like an actual passion project, unlike GB 2016.

Please be good. I love Ghostbusters.

 

[ManaByte]

When is this coming out??

Delayed to November due to COVID.

 

[ManaByte]

But for some reason you held out against it for so long. Why?

Because he felt conned into doing Ghostbusters 2 under false pretenses:

Were you reluctant to do Ghostbusters 2?

MURRAY: Yes, I was very, very reluctant to do it. I was in absolutely no hurry. I probably thought that the only reason anyone would want another one was just to make money. And I was probably the most reluctant. Someone outfoxed me anyway. I don’t know if Ivan set it up, but they got us all back together in a room, and really, we hadn’t been together in a room since the movie came out and it was just really, really fun to be together. We were really funny together. Those are some really wonderful, really funny guys and girls. Sigourney [Weaver] and Annie Potts are some really spectacular women and funny as hell. They got us all together and they pitched a story idea that was really great. I thought, “Holy cow, we could make that work.”

It ended up not being the story they wrote. They got us in the sequel under false pretenses. Harold had this great idea, but by the time we got to shooting it, I showed up on set and went, “What the hell is this? What is this thing?” But we were already shooting it, so we had to figure out how to make it work. That was a great bunch of people. Just to be together was great. I probably like the first one better than the second one, just because the first cut is the deepest. We were in New York and we really made a mess in New York for a couple of months, but we had a lot of fun. People in New York will accept things, but those uniforms, when we rolled into places, people thought, “They’ve got these cool uniforms. They must be somebody.” People thought we were legitimate. When we drove that car through red lights and one-way streets, it just looked like we were in charge of the situation. It was a lot of fun, that first one. We didn’t get away with that much on the second one.

 

[hybrid_birth]

 

[ManaByte]

I'm excited for this. It sounds like an actual passion project, unlike GB 2016.

Please be good. I love Ghostbusters.

It's also a direct sequel and not a remake/reboot like 2016. The events of the first two movies happened (but most people forgot about them) and the main characters are Egon's grandchildren.

 

[AJUMP23]

I wish we could have gotten this last year. But I will see it when it comes out.

 

[Cockles & Whelks]

If Murray can appear in that shit show version a few years ago, he can fucking well put on a good show in this one!

 

[DetectiveBananas]

It's also a direct sequel and not a remake/reboot like 2016. The events of the first two movies happened (but most people forgot about them) and the main characters are Egon's grandchildren.

I wonder if his grandkids also collect spores, molds, and fungus?!...

 

[ManaByte]

I wonder if his grandkids also collect spores, molds, and fungus?!...

They show that collection in the trailer.

 

[DKehoe]

Huh, I totally forgot Murray was in the 2016 one.

I'm not that excited about the idea of a new Ghostbusters in 2021. I'd prefer something original. But if they can make something decent out of this then good for them I guess.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

This should have happened 20 years ago when everyone was still alive and had a little bit of energy left. Murray is a famous bitcher. He also didn't like Scrooged despite it being fantastic imo. Something about the original script being much darker that he liked.

 

[RaptorGTA]

This should have happened 20 years ago when everyone was still alive and had a little bit of energy left. Murray is a famous bitcher. He also didn't like Scrooged despite it being fantastic imo. Something about the original script being much darker that he liked.

Scrooged was awesome. He's the only person to give a subpar performance in the video game voice work as well.

 

[Spoog]

I actually love Ghostbusters 2 as much as the first, although that is probably nostalgia clouding my judgement. I was excited about the 2016 version but thought it was shit in the end - just the fact that this acts like the first two movies existed and isn't set in a different universe makes me excited about it more, as well as the fact that it seems to have some actual passion behind it.

 

[Umbasaborne]

The huge delay for this movie was ridiculous

 

[Alright]

MURRAY: Yes, that’s true. I did the one that the ladies did, and those are some of my favorite funny people. Those girls are so funny. You talk about improvising, and they did nothing but fire grenades, all day long. I sat in amazement, watching them. They circled the globe.

Well, at least one of them did

 

[Spoog]

MURRAY: Yes, that’s true. I did the one that the ladies did, and those are some of my favorite funny people. Those girls are so funny. You talk about improvising, and they did nothing but fire grenades, all day long. I sat in amazement, watching them.

I do think at least 50% of the four mains are very funny in general... but absolutely not in that movie. At all!

 

[KrakenIPA]

It probably would have been less physically taxing if he just said yes to Ghostbusters 3 decades ago. That way he could have been a younger man and not some old grumpy fuck complaining about having to work.

Instead of being 70 and not being the star of the movie, you could have been 50 and been one of the leads. But for some reason you held out against it for so long. Why?

I don't really have any sympathy for Bill Murray at all tbh. Dude passed on the opportunity to work with the full group until it was too late and now that Ramis is dead he wants to cash in? Blegh.

Yep, i fully agree. It reminds me so much of the listless participation roles of Harrison Ford's Han Solo, but with a bit more 'crazy uncle' vibe. I know you can't force an actor to put their heart into a role, and I know they didn't need the money, but they didn't have to be so damn dismissive of their influence on young/new and old/old fans that just love the characters they portrayed so well.