BILL MURRAY - MELANCHOLY MAGICIAN
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by Harold von Kursk
CANNES - There are few more brilliant and complex men
in show business than Bill Murray. He's a
natural-born-comedian, yet he's also capable of
terrific pathos as a dramatic actor the way he showed
in recent films like LOST IN TRANSLATION, a
performance which earned him a Golden Globe award as
well as an Oscar nomination, and in last year's
overlooked masterpiece, THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE
ZISSOU. In Hollywood, he's known as a mercurial
eccentric, an actor who often refuses to answer the
phone for months on end, letting directors twist in
the wind until he finally decides whether to accept a
role - or not. Even when he agrees to do a film,
sometimes he will remain incommunicado until only a
few days before he's due to appear on set. He can be a
pricklish personality, and has often engaged in verbal
confrontations with co-stars and journalists alike.
His heart is so large, however, that he has taken to
handing out twenty dollar bills to poor and homeless
people in New York while on location waiting for his
scenes to be shot.
His new film, BROKEN FLOWERS, directed by the American
auteur Jim Jarmusch, is yet another extension of
Murray's deepening dramatis personae. Not only is it
Jarmusch's best film in over a decade, it also gives
Murray the chance to deliver a multi-layered
performance as Don Johnston, a man cannot commit to
relationships and seeks to avoid awkward issues in
life. It's an ideal creative fit - Murray's spare,
minimalist style of interpretation together with
Jarmusch's own brand of subtle and ironic
storytelling, driven more by character study than plot
mechanics.
FLOWERS sees Murray play an inveterate womanizer who
is experiencing a strange sense of emptiness at this
stage in his life. But all of that changes when an
anonymous letter arrives at his home telling him he
has a son he did not know about.
On the prompting of his detective-wannabe neighbor, he
goes in search of the mysterious girlfriend (Sharon
Stone, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, and Frances
Conroy play the four candidates, while Julie Delpy
co-stars as his current companion) from his past who
could have been the child’s mother, bringing him into
often hilarious and sometimes violent contact with
four of his former loves and their families.
BROKEN FLOWERS allows Murray to cast his melancholy
magic in a film that constantly upsets our
expectations and exerts a strange sense of sadness and
harmony. Murray said he knew enough about
relationships and break-ups to play the part
convincingly, having to constantly face the reactions
of ex-girlfriends as he wanders through the film.
“Anyone that didn’t marry the first person he kissed
has had some experiences,” Murray said. “Some people
have had more experiences than others. I feel like
I’ve had plenty of wonderfully odd girlfriends in my
past to enable me to understand and add some substance
to this part.”
Bill Murray grew up in Chicago as one of six brothers
and sisters in a traditional Irish Catholic family.
His mother, Lucille, who worked for a hospital supply
company, died in 1998. His father Edward, a lumber
salesman was just 46 when he died of complications
from diabetes.
Today, Bill lives in the New York countryside. He’s a
devoted father of six (two, aged 22 and 19) from his
first marriage), and happily married to second wife
Jennifer Butler, a costume designer, whom he met on
the set of ‘Scrooged’ in 1988, and with whom he raises
their four children, ranging from four to ten years
old.
I spoke to the 55-year-old Murray on the terrace of
the celebrated Hotel du Cap in Cannes, where he looked
splendid in black linen jacket, jeans, and a white
T-shirt. He’s balding, with tufts of grey hair, almost
white. He's as ironic as one might expect from his
work, yet he also speaks with a touching seriousness
at times that betrays the deeper and more reflective
side of the man.
THE INTERVIEW
Q: Bill, this is the third straight drama you've done
in a row. Do you feel that as a former comic actor
you're finally getting respect for your dramatic work?
MURRAY: I've always felt that people who don't think
that comedians are actors are damaged -- really
damaged. If you're a real true comedian, you can act.
Because it's the ability to say a line straight. You
have to be able to play straight to do comedy.
Q: Is BROKEN FLOWERS a film that you feel extends your
dramatic work further?
MURRAY: I'd like to think so. I'd like to believe
that I'm growing as an actor with each film I do. But
what was interesting about this film was that I play
more of a reactive character. There is not a lot of
dialogue for me. I just basically get beaten up by
these women in the movie and (my job is to) just be
surprised by what the information is. So most of what
I gave in my performance is just being stung by what
they say.
But I see the film as a kind of psychological
detective story, so you keep learning more about
Johnston (Murray's character) as we go along, and I
think that keeps you intrigued.
Q: Is the film also a study in how we remember the
past and perhaps have a overly favourable view of our
past behaviour?
MURRAY: Oh, absolutely. It is tough to go back and
meet the loves of your life, and you kind of
mis-remember how well it went at the time, sometimes.
And, when you go back, you're going to be affected not
only by the hurt that you caused but also by the love
that you may have passed on. And, if have forgotten
any of it, it still affects you when you see them.
For six weeks, trying it with four different
actresses, I found it to be unsettling and disturbing.
You might want to try going to a circus camp or
something for a couple of weeks instead. You get the
same feeling trying to learn how to swing on a
trapeze.
Q: Was there something in particular about this role
which you found unusual or challenging?
MURRAY: As an actor, I found it quite unique to play
a man who's putting himself in a situation where
you're going to be meeting into old girlfriends and
you don’t know how you stand with this person... You
don’t want to go into any dark corners. You don’t
really want to know what’s there. So it was
fascinating for me to put myself into the head of this
man.
So at this stage of Don's life, when you finally gets
involved in something, when he tries to track down his
son's mother, he actually becomes a person again
instead of the inactive, disconnected being that he
was.
Q: Part of BROKEN FLOWERS is about life's missed
opportunities, isn't it?
MURRAY: Yes. We all have someone that we think,
'maybe I didn't give myself enough of a chance, or
give that person enough of a chance. There are certain
times in life where you're not in the right frame of
mind to appreciate a woman who would be an ideal
partner for you at other times. That's why it's hard
for people to find their true love - your soul has to
be balanced with the other person's and that's not
easy.
Q: Though you've clearly established your dramatic
credentials with this and your previous two films, do
you think that your work in LOST IN TRANSLATION was
overlooked by the Academy Awards because you're best
known for comedy?
MURRAY: I don't think it helped me. We always joke:
you give me an affliction and I'll give you an Oscar.
You give me a fatal disease and I'll get a prize for
it. You give me a wig or a mask or a disfiguration,
and I'll make it work for you. To me that's just the
way it is.
Awards don't matter ultimately, because it's the work
that stands up. But you would like people to be more
open-minded and not just recognise actors playing
disturbed or twisted or diseased characters.
Q: Why is comedy seen as less valid than drama?
MURRAY: It's because we need to associate seriousness
and depth and hence quality with drama. But people
forget that when you laugh, you're breaking some sort
of tension. You're untying a knot. Somehow, that's not
something that people take into their emotional bank
... even though people value it. But it's not
something where people say: 'I want to give you a
prize.'
Q: You've been described by your co-stars over the
years as being a melancholy person. Do you see
yourself that way?
MURRAY: Well, I don’t think melancholy is a bad thing,
you know. Its sort of an adult emotion that you get
when you realize that the way you see the world and
the way you want it to be, isn’t necessarily the way
it is - you know? It’s a space in between the ideal
and the reality, that’s where the real suffering is.
Melancholy is nicer than depressed though. It’s almost
like a little bit of ‘aw shucks’. But it’s not
getting down about things.
Q: Where does the sadness come from?
MURRAY: My childhood I think. It wasn’t easy growing
up. There were a lot of kids and there wasn’t a lot of
money - I came from a giant family, you know what
that’s like? Our house was a wreck, a constant
claustrophobic mess.
And looking back you think ‘wow that must have been
really hard’, but at the time you don’t see it as
hard, you see it as ‘this is my life, I’m not going to
complain about it, I’m just going to do the best I can
with it.’ I don’t mind feeling it, the pain, I have
problems. To me, I kinda like feeling sad and I think
it’s OK to have emotion. I think trying to deny
emotion is like an enormous drain on your brain, you
can’t fight your emotions because they’re more
powerful than you and to crank your brain up to
overpower them on a regular basis, gives you a kind of
diseased brain I think.
Q: You say it was hard growing up with lots of
siblings, but you have six kids yourself?
MURRAY: I have a melancholy feeling about family and
children. I really like to be myself you know. But I
can’t deny that I like this feeling of all these
people around, I got used to it. I mean I’d really
like to grab my wife and say ‘lets go and get a hotel
room somewhere’. And she’s like ‘well how the hell are
we gonna do that? It’s not gonna happen’.
But having more children you get a little better at
being a parent. Also they engage each other. One is
the worst, the hardest I think. But with two then
there’s someone to play with. That sort of works with
the six, they do take care of each other and the older
ones play with the littler ones.
Q: How much time do you spend with the family?
MURRAY: I love my job and everything and obviously
they’ll execute you at home if you say you like the
movie business better. But work doesn’t compete with
the children. I really like when the cameras roll, the
actual job of it, I love it, I really do. But I don’t
like the fame. It’s nice to have some money to be able
to do things, but being famous is not great. I find
celebrity kind of repulsive really; fame will just
suck you right up. I say to people ‘don’t try to be
rich and famous’, why don’t you just be rich and see
if that doesn’t cover it, you know. Fortunately I’ve
lived long enough and been through this before so it’s
not going to drive me nuts.
But I actually think I’ve had a great run and it would
be a real adventure to try something new. I’d like to
write really, I think I’d like to write a play. To be
perfectly honest that’s always what I wanted to do
with my life. But this stuff, is like ‘mmmmmm
whatever.'
Q: You don’t have a publicist and you fired your agent
a few years ago, why is that?
MURRAY: I've never had a publicist and, you know what,
not having an agent is the best thing I've ever done.
From a business point of view, it wasn’t necessary (to
have an agent), I didn’t need an agency anymore. The
scripts get to me somehow. They were complicating
things for me because they try to get you to do things
you don’t want to do. And they are extremely
disorganized. I’m disorganized and I don’t need to pay
someone to be disorganized for me and to make me more
confused. They got me really out of whack on a few
occasions and it was like ‘what the heck’. I like to
cut my own lawn now, I don’t need a landscaper. If
people want to work with me, they'll find a way to
reach me.
Q: Your work in LOST IN TRANSLATION (in which Murray
plays Bob Harris, a depressed, married actor, who
meets a beautiful young woman in Tokyo while he's
shooting a whisky commercial - ED) made a deep
impression on audiences and critics alike. What
appealled to you about that kind of character?
MURRAY: Here’s a man who makes the choice to be
faithful rather than having an affair with a beautiful
young woman. We’ve all been in a situation where
you’re with another person and you’re like ‘hey this
could all devolve into a disaster, it could be a lot
of fun for a couple of hours and then its going to be
terrible tomorrow,’ you know that feeling?
I wanted this guy to have some sort of dignity, some
sort of character. The thing this guy really wanted to
do was maybe have someone ease his pain thirteen
thousand miles away from home you know? Make him feel
special, make him feel loved; make him feel like a
man.
He’s a different kind of hero; it’s the kind of hero
every person can be in their life. Not everyone can be
‘Indiana Jones’, not everyone can be a ‘Ghostbuster’
but everyone can make that decision to not do that
thing they want to do, which is: ‘I want you to kiss
me know, I want you to make me feel better now.’
Q: Have you been tempted yourself?
MURRAY: Yeah, it’s like, that’s the deal. That
situation happens all the time, all the time, not just
to me, to everyone, it happens to you.
At a certain time in your life you think to yourself
‘why don’t I have some kind of love toy like that?
that’d be great .’ What any man would want would be
that ridiculously attractive girl in a hotel in Tokyo,
why not? What if…. But it’s sort of like - you know
for some reason it’s the best thing not to do it and
its best for her too and for your family.
Q: Much of your film persona is based on a certain
ironic way of looking at the world. But this film
casts you in a much more serious light. What kind of
challenge was that for you?
MURRAY: I think irony is sincere. You have to be
sincere to feel irony and be ironic. That's why I
liked being Bob so much. I get to be downtrodden, and
a little sad and lonely, and to be in love. And I get
some really great laughs, some of the biggest laughs
I've ever gotten out of my work. This film was a full
meal for me, as an actor and as a person. It's not
hard. You just get yourself out of the way and be
emotionally and intellectually available to what's
happening.
Q: How closely did you identify with some aspects of
Bob's mid-life crisis, his sadness, and his
world-weary sense of life?
MURRAY: Any actor would have loved to have done that
part. I've been around actors and movie stars most of
my life, and I know this kind of guy. I didn't really
base my interpretation on any one person I'd known
because I didn't have to. I felt that my whole life
had led to this moment, to what my character was
living, and that everything I am went into the
performance and my being there in Tokyo making this
film.
Q: You shot BROKEN FLOWERS with only a month break
after you finished a six-month shoot in Rome on THE
LIFE AQUATIC. How tough was that?
MURRAY: I was totally, horribly, miserably exhausted.
Doing all those movies in a row, I didn’t have
anything left. At the end of Jim’s (Jarmusch's) movie
I was empty, dry as a bone.
When I was shooting LIFE AQUATIC it felt like a
penitentiary sentence in some way because I was away
from my family for much long. I was gone for so long
it really sort of took me apart.
So this year I don’t really want to work at all. I'm
goiing to sit back, read, and watch a lot of baseball
on TV and watch my kids grow.
Q: Do you see yourself as a very devoted family man?
MURRAY: For me, its not really about my obligation to
my kids, I’m just crazy about them. They’re just so
spectacular. Every single day. Its like, its like I’m
just nuts about them.
But that doesn’t mean that I don’t wanna jump on a
sailboat and go someplace without them. You hear women
say that all the time right? Someday I’m just going to
go to the airport and never come back. And its true.
But there’s something about your children...you can’t
quit. You just need to be around them.
Q: Will any of the kids follow in your footsteps and
go into acting?
MURRAY: There are two that are really funny and the
oldest one, Homer who I never thought, never - had
that special thing - actually acted in a little movie
his friend made last week, and I thought ‘oh my God
here it comes’ because he’s got something. And there’s
another one who’s really funny. But you know, that’s
what I do when I get out of here, be with them.
They’re not impressed with the movies at all.
Q: Your characters in LOST IN TRANSLATION, THE LIFE
AQUATIC, and now in BROKEN FLOWERS seem to be
suffering from mid-life angst. Do you ever suffer
from that?
MURRAY: Both these guys have had success in their
pasts and they're concerned about whether they'll have
success in their futures. I refuse to live in the past
or the future. I'm happy living my life in the
present.
I have crises on a regular basis. Of all kinds. And
they're not really suggested by how old I am or how
much living I've done. It's all part of questioning
yourself, questioning your life, and rethinking your
world on a daily basis. Not that it's going to change
the way you live, but you grow and evolve as a human
being by going through that kind of questioning.
I don't want to be the biggest star in the world. I'd
rather live my life out of the glare of the spotlight
doing the kind of little films I want to do. I always
hoped that one of the smaller independent films I
would do in my career would have some recognition and
would connect with audiences. And then low-and-behold
LOST IN TRANSLATION had that kind of success. For me,
that was a welcome confirmation that I'm doing the
right thing with my career.
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