Jul 20 2010Bill Murray Made Common Mistake of Thinking 'Garfield' Was Coen Brothers Film
In a recent interview with GQ, Bill Murray took the time to answer some questions about his career, what he watches, Ghostbusters 3 (it's almost surely not happening--in part because Year One was so undeserving of a Year Two) and, most importantly, why he did Garfield. For the money? A little for the money. To build a bizarre continuity in which Bill Murray does the live-action version of every cartoon character voiced by Lorenzo Music? You'd think. No, it turns out it was mostly because he thought it was written by Joel Coen:
No! I didn't make [Garfield] for the dough! Well, not completely. I thought it would be kind of fun, because doing a voice is challenging, and I'd never done that. Plus, I looked at the script, and it said, "So-and-so and Joel Coen." And I thought: Christ, well, I love those Coens! They're funny. So I sorta read a few pages of it and thought, Yeah, I'd like to do that.... Finally, I went out to L.A. to record my lines. And usually when you're looping a movie, if it takes two days, that's a lot. I don't know if I should even tell this story, because it's kind of mean. [beat] What the hell? It's interesting. So I worked all day and kept going, "That's the line? Well, I can't say that." And you sit there and go, What can I say that will make this funny? And make it make sense? And I worked. I was exhausted, soaked with sweat, and the lines got worse and worse. And I said, "Okay, you better show me the whole rest of the movie, so we can see what we're dealing with." So I sat down and watched the whole thing, and I kept saying, "Who the hell cut this thing? Who did this? What the fuck was Coen thinking?" And then they explained it to me: It wasn't written by that Joel Coen.
The existence of Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties makes me a bit skeptical of this story, but let's not worry too much about that. More importantly, you need to read his amazing physical description of 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.
Someone needs to make that her IMDb bio.
Reader Comments
1. John - July 20, 2010 12:25 PM
Yeah, that's a little bullshitty. Unless he's a complete fucking moron I guess?
2. loltypecasting - July 20, 2010 12:26 PM
Shall we go on to assume he did "Lost in Translation" because he skimmed through the script, only saw the last name of the director, and jumped the gun too?
3. FDSY - July 20, 2010 12:48 PM
I really wanted Ghostbusters 3
My favorite was whats-his-man. That fatter guy. Plays the harmonica? Body's 1 in a billion. Friends with Chevy Chase? Help me out, who is he?
4. CrackedPepper86 - July 20, 2010 12:58 PM
(Just sayin) he was probably contractually obligated to make a sequel.
(/Just sayin)
5. cakeyhamburger - July 20, 2010 1:45 PM
I'm sure he only made the Garfield sequel because Wes Andersun was attached to direct.
6. JChief - July 20, 2010 2:11 PM
Bill Murray is a really shrewd guy. So many SNL folks (including the talented ones) came out with complete shit, but never Murray. I have no doubt he would be a lot more wealthy right now if he cynically cashed in his legendary SNL work.
The guy is profoundly sarcastic and ironic. I'm hoping he, as usual, is having another joke on us. Maybe he thought the honest answer (da money) was too boring, and/or he is deeply ashamed that, for once, he succumbed to a purely payday performance.
7. jaime - July 20, 2010 2:45 PM
it sounds too crazy to be true, honestly.
8. she's hot - July 20, 2010 2:57 PM
too bad JLH didn't make a nude scene while she was still young...
9. Andre - July 20, 2010 7:50 PM
He played a sick dude with a gnarly zit in Osmosis Jones. He can't be that picky about roles.
10. n - July 21, 2010 6:47 AM
i saw this on yahoo and it sounded too crazy to be true but apparently he hasn't a publicist or anything,
11. Edge6241 - July 21, 2010 9:39 AM
Most likely a joke. Otherwise, as another poster said and I wish I would have read this first so I can take credit for this observation, why would he have made Garfield 2?
12. Ben - July 21, 2010 10:16 AM
Pretty obvious it's a joke I think.
13. valdezlopez - July 21, 2010 12:16 PM
Almost as funny as Murray's explanation, but quite sadder, is the fact that so many posters on this news item think Murray was REALLY explaining why he did Garfield.
Come on, people. It's sarcasm, Bill Murray stile.
14. maythetechbewithyou - July 22, 2010 8:19 PM
I think Bill Murray will just do anything to make people laugh. From children targeted films like Garfield and Osmosis Jones (the latter has enough adult humor thrown in there too for parents to like it), to more adult comedies like Stripes and Groundhog Day, and his short lived role in Zombieland. The guy just likes making people smile. And he is really good at it.
15. frank - July 23, 2010 12:18 PM
Dear God, that part of Zombieland was sublime. It made up for every flaw in the movie.
16. LeoZ - July 29, 2010 10:39 AM
He's basically trying to say that he signed up to do Garfield before he even read the script. The Joel Coen thing is mostly a joke to cover up the fact that he didn't read the script.
17. JimmyDOA - July 31, 2010 12:09 PM
An insider tells me this is absolutely true. Bill has a great sense of humor, but it's all based on the truth as he sees it. (Plus I'll bet he didn't read the script.)