Bill Murray, 62, is known for his wacky humor, dry
wit, and deadpan delivery – and as one of the comic geniuses to emerge out of
the early days of SNL. He continues to be not only one of the
funniest but also one of the best actors working today. This month he is featured in the supporting voice role of Badger
in the upcoming new film from Wes
Anderson, Fantastic
Mr. Fox.
Early Career:
Bill Murray got his start on SNL in 1977 as one of the troupe’s
stars. In 1979, he made the jump to his feature lead debut in Meatballs and quickly parlayed that into
breakthrough supporting roles in Caddyshack and Tootsie,
both of which are generally considered to be movie stealing outings by Murray.
In Caddyshack, Murray’s
antics are pitted against many of the top comedians of the late 70s and early
80s including Rodney
Dangerfield and Chevy Chase,
and yet it was Murray that made the biggest impression and
garnered adoring fans. It is also with Caddyshack that Murray first worked with future
multi-collaborator Harold
Ramis, who was directing.
Tootsie was nominated for multiple Oscars in 1983, though Murray’s supporting role was not
recognized with a nomination, but in retrospect, his performance is considered
the highlight of the film.
Collaborations with
Ivan Reitman:
However, it was Murray’s
collaborations with Ivan
Reitman that made him
a star. First, getting his feature break in Reitman’s Meatballs, and then in Stripes.
It was the director and actor’s third film together that propelled Murray to international fame – Ghostbusters.
Reteaming with SNL buddy Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters
perfectly brought together comedy, special effects and adventure the make it
one of the biggest blockbusters of the 80s, spawning the next collaborations
between Reitman and Murray, Ghostbusters
II and the upcoming Ghostbusters
III (assuming it ever
actually happens).
Personal Projects:
With the success of Stripes, Tootsie and Caddyshack, Murray had
his choice of any project. It was in his best interest to continue make bigger
releases like Ghostbusters. So he made a few forgettable comedies like Scrooged and Ghostbusters II, and took a
supporting role in Little
Shop of Horrors to
round out the 80s.
However, he then turned his attention to a more personal project
in The
Razor’s Edge, a film that he got Columbia
Pictures to finance
for doing Ghostbusters, an idea he got from Aykroyd, not being able to find a
studio to make the film. Here, Murray took a role to grow as an actor, which
features his unique quirkiness but also the film has a lot of sadness to it. The
film is about a man who serves as a stretcher-barrier during WWI. He is not
quite able to recover from the tragedies that he experiences in the war, and so
upon his return stateside, he is unable to be with the women he loves and moves
to France. The film deals with his journey to find enlightenment and love. The
film was not well received at the time, as most people wanted Murray to be funny as opposed to a serious
actor, but the film is quite good and deserves another look.
Murray next tried his hand at directing, as he (actor/producer)
and Howard
Franklin (writer)
could not agree on a new director with Jonathan
Demme dropping out,
with Quick Change,
a bank heist comedy co-starring Randy Quaid and Geena Davis;
this would be the only time that Murray would be in the director’s chair, again
the film was not well received.
1990s, Some Good, Most
bad:
The early to mid-90s saw Murray make a hit, and couple cult favorites,
and a few not so good movies.
Murray decided to collaborate again with Harold Ramis, a
partnership that had blossomed both critical and commercial successes for the
pair. Groundhog
Day is the highlight
of this part of Murray’s career.
It perfectly mixes his brand of comedy with philosophical questions about
humanity. However, Murray and Ramis
often argued about the tone of the film (Murray wanted it to be more
philosophical, while Ramis wanted it to be a comedy) and they had a falling out
and have yet to work together again.
Murray then took supporting parts in Tim
Burton's Ed Wood and The
Farrelly Brothers' Kingpin,
in both of which he delivers scene-stealing performances. The rest of this time
was spent toiling around in subpar films, highlighted by the absurd Wild
Things and the awful Larger
Than Life.
Rebirth, Collaborations
with Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch/Lost in Translation:
Starting in 1998 with Rushmore, Murray reinvented himself as hip once again,
whether it was by his project choices, or the new directors that he started
working with, he became popular again for a new generation (and a new
audience). He transformed himself as the go-to comedian for the independent
scene.
Wes Anderson, coming off the indie success of Bottle
Rocket, cast Murray as the co-lead in his film Rushmore,
which sees Murray battle Jason
Schwartzman for the
affections of a school teacher. Murray’s
performance is wonderful, mixing dry humor, sadness, and hope. There is a sense
that their budding friendship saves each of the characters’ lives.
Anderson would continue to work with Murray in some capacity on
all his future projects, seeing Murray in supporting roles in The Royale
Tenenbaums and
upcoming Fantastic Mr. Fox, a cameo in The
Darjeeling Limited, and starring in The Life
Aquatic with Steve Zissou, another film in which Murray is able to
show his great capacity for emotion with almost effortless style, blending
dryness and sadness. Murray also kills in a supporting role in Anderson’s latest
film Moonrise
Kingdom.
With Jim
Jarmusch, Murray delves deeper into the indie scene starring
first in a film involving a series of conversations in cafes, Coffee and
Cigarettes, and then in Broken
Flowers, about a man in search of his son, who is in turn looking
for him. Murray is also featured in a supporting role
in Jarmusch’s latest, The Limits
of Control.
Sticking with the indie scene, Murray also made Tim
Robbins's fantastic
ensemble musical about the turmoil of the 1930s New York, Cradle
Will Rock, playing an aging relic (aka a vaudevillian
ventriloquist). He then took a chance in a supporting role in Ethan
Hawke's reimaging of Hamlet,
following it with Andy Garcia's passion
project about Havana The Lost
City.
In Sofia
Coppola's wonderful Lost in
Translation, a role that would earn him his first and only Oscar nomination (which he sadly did not win), Murray
is brilliant, turning in possibly the best work of his career.
With the critical success of Rushmore and Lost in Translation,
along with his masterfully perfect performances in each, Murray has
reestablished himself as not only a top comedian, but more importantly as a top
actor. However, a purely independent career does not pay the bills (at least
not the bills of a movie star), nor does it get an actor the exposure to a
broad audience.
Other Films:
So, Murray also took
many Hollywood roles during his time reimagining himself. Most supporting parts,
Murray notably co-starred in Charlie’s
Angels, Osmosis
Jones and the lead
voice role in the two Garfield films.
Lately,
Murray has taken roles in Gil Kenan's follow-up to Monster
House, the underrated City of
Ember, the indie crime drama Get Low,
and he plays FDR in Hyde Park on
Hudson.
Cameos:
For those who remember Space Jam from the 90s, know that Murray can be excellent in cameo appearances,
and that still continues today. Murray has featured in a few films through
memorable cameos in recent years. Some of which work, his cameo in The
Darjeeling Limited as a man trying to catch his train at the beginning of the
film is likely the best opening to a Wes Anderson film to date. Some of which
do not, his cameo in Get Smart,
like the movie, is not very good or funny. And some of which steal the movie,
his cameo in Zombieland is the highlight of the film as he
reenacts a scene from Ghostbusters and pretends to be a zombie.
Future Projects:
Upcoming, Murray is set to feature in both George Clooney’s
new film The Monuments Men
and Wes Anderson’s seventh feature The Grand Budapest Hotel – both
due in late 2013
The Monuments Men is about a crew of art historians who set out on
a mission to rescue and recover renowned works of art stolen by the Nazis,
before Hitler destroys them. In addition to Clooney and Murray, the film also
features Matt
Damon, Cate
Blanchett, Hugh
Bonneville, Jean
Dujardin, and John
Goodman.
As impressive as the cast Clooney has assembled is, Anderson has
him beat with The Grand Budapest Hotel. It stars (in addition to Murray) Ralph Fiennes, Saoirse Ronan, Jude Law, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzman,
Harvey Keitel,
F. Murray Abraham,
and Mathieu
Amalric. The film takes place is the 1930s and 1960s and is about Mr.
Gustave, the hotel’s concierge, as he deals with the guests while trying to train
his protégé.
Career Highlights:
*Editor’s
picks
No comments:
Post a Comment