Bill Murray on Being Mortal complaint: "I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn't taken that way"
Murray says he's in talks with the unnamed woman in question about re-building trust on the currently shuttered film's set.
It’s been a little more than a week since production stopped down on the set of Aziz Ansari’s new movie Being Mortal, after a complaint, now being investigated, was lodged against the film’s star, Bill Murray. Today, Murray addressed the accusation of inappropriate behavior publicly for the first time, telling CNBC that, “I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way.”
Murray says that the incident in question happened between him and “a woman I was working with” who he declines to name, and that, “the movie studio wanted to do the right thing, check it out and investigate it, and so they stopped the production.”
Murray doesn’t go into specifics during the interview—which, weirdly, was part of coverage of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, where Murray was apparently in attendance as an investor—but does say that he and the woman in question are apparently in talks to re-build trust, and that he’s “optimistic” that “we’re going to make peace” and possibly return to the film.
Tone and sincerity in these sorts of things are always in the eye of the beholder, of course, but Murray used a lot of language relating to self-reflection and contrition in the interview. “I think it’s a sad dog that can’t learn anymore,” he observed. “I don’t want to be that sad dog.” He says that he’s spent the time since the complaint was lodged trying to understand how the situation happened; that, ultimately, he’ll bow to the woman in question about what she wants done in regards to the incident; and notes that he’s benefited from watching the public stumbles of actors who’ve come before him—and expressed hopes that younger actors watching him will do the same. (Provided, presumably, we someday get details about what actually happened.)
Being Mortal is Ansari’s first film as a director. The movie, adapted from the memoir by doctor Atul Gawande, is about Gawande’s thoughts on medicine and end-of-life care, and stars Murray and Ansari, with Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer having joined the cast in recent months. No word yet on when production might resume.