He doesn’t do it often. He doesn’t work often. He doesn’t have an agent or a publicist. You can only reach him via 800 number. For reals. So when he does talk, he makes it worthwhile. Always.

There was a great article about Bill Murray a couple of weeks ago in Entertainment Weekly about how reclusive and weird he is, about the infamous 800 number, about how you have to fax pages to a random Kinko’s if he’s interested enough to read the script – he’s everything you want your weird celebrity to be and he can back his sh-t up with legitimate skill, original, irreplaceable skill. An excerpt from that article is here but it’s really nothing compared to the full piece. And also nothing compared to his new interview with GQ in support of his new film Get Low.

You have to read the entire article but here’s an example of why a Bill Murray interview is So.Much.More satisfying than most celebrity interviews, including Angelina Jolie’s recent ones. If only she’d give up the banality of her brood and start saying what she really thinks without that wall. When Bill Murray chooses to come from behind that wall, he really doesn’t hold back. Why single out the Jolie and not the others? Because she actually has a personality and a brain. She could deliver like this.

Below – Murray’s thoughts on Garfield:

GQ: Okay. Well, how about Garfield? Can you explain that to me? Did you just do it for the dough?
BM: No! I didn't make that 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. I had these agents at the time, and I said, "What do they give you to do one of these things?" And they said, "Oh, they give you $50,000." So I said, "Okay, well, I don't even leave the f-ckin' driveway for that kind of money."

GQ: And it's not like you're helping out an indie director by playing Garfield.
BM: Exactly. He's in 3,000 newspapers every day; he's not hurtin'. Then this studio guy calls me up out of nowhere, and I had a nice conversation with him. No bullsh-t, no schmooze, none of that stuff. We just talked for a long time about the movie. And my agents called on Monday and said, "Well, they came back with another offer, and it was nowhere near $50,000." And I said, "That's more befitting of the work I expect to do!" So they went off and shot the movie, and I forgot all about it. 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 f-ck was Coen thinking?" And then they explained it to me: It wasn't written by that Joel Coen.

He goes on to sh-t on Seinfeld and The Office and some other people and totally objectifies Jennifer Love Hewitt. It’s AMAZING.

Click here for more.

Am attaching photos of Murray at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago a few weeks ago. And the trailer for Get Low which looks like a new classic. And of course his last appearance on Letterman, ALWAYS gold.

 

 




Photos from Wenn.com