Bill Murray has opened up about what happened on the set of “Being Mortal,” Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut that was shut down over complaints of the prolific comedian’s on-set misconduct.
While speaking with The New York Times about his new movie, “The Friend,” Murray discussed the fact that he and his character in the film, Walter, have both been accused of “inappropriate misconduct.” When asked if he still thinks about his “Being Mortal” incident, Murray said, “I don’t go too many days or weeks without thinking of what happened.”
“It was Covid, we were all wearing masks and we were all stranded in this one room listening to this crazy scene,” Murray said. “I dunno what prompted me to do it. It’s something that I had done to someone else before, and I thought it was funny, and every time it happened, it was funny. I was wearing a mask, and I gave her a kiss, and she was wearing a mask. It wasn’t like I touched her, but it was just, I gave her a kiss through a mask. And she wasn’t a stranger.”
Murray said the incident still bothers him since shortly after, “Being Mortal” was shut down by “human rights or ‘H & R’ of the Disney corporation,” which he described as “more strident than some other countries.”
“It turned out there were pre-existing conditions and all this kind of stuff,” Murray added. “I’m like, what? How was anyone supposed to know anything like that? There was no conversation, there was nothing. There was no peacemaking, nothing. It went to this lunatic arbitration, which, if anyone ever suggests you go to arbitration: Don’t do it. Never ever do it. Because you think it’s justice, and it isn’t.”
He continued, “But it was a great disappointment, because I thought I knew someone, and I did not. I certainly thought it was light. I thought it was funny. To me, it’s still funny, the idea that you could give someone a kiss with a mask on. It’s still stupid. It’s all it was.”
“The Friend,” directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, follows New York City writer Iris (Naomi Watts), whose life of quiet and solitude is upended by Apollo, a great dane inherited from her late mentor.
Back in April of 2022, production on “Being Mortal” was indefinitely suspended after a complaint was issued about Murray’s on-set incident. Based on Atul Gawande’s 2014 book “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” the film was to star Murray, Ansari and Seth Rogen. The movie was ultimately never finished.
