Bill Murray
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murrayis an American actor, comedian, and writer. He first gained exposure on Saturday Night Live, a role which earned him his first Emmy Award and later went on to star in comedy films, including Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes, Tootsie, Ghostbusters, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, What About Bob?, and Groundhog Day. He also co-directed Quick Change...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth21 September 1950
CityWilmette, IL
CountryUnited States of America
When I started, the scripts weren't as good, and you'd have to have a huge burst of energy to go, "Sheesh, how am I going to? This stuff's no good." So you'd have to improvise something or create something or try to work with the ware and try to figure out, how do you make this visually and orally acceptable, entertaining? Nowadays, the scripts are just so much better, that you don't have to feel that way. You feel like the script's coming to you, you can just relax. You don't have to drive the boat.
I don't feel like it's pressure. It's more of an obligation - not to entertain or be funny, but to have a certain levity. I mean, there's got to be a lightness in your leg. You have to be as light as you can be, and you don't have to be weighted down, stuck in your emotions and stuck in your body, stuck in your head. You just want to try and elevate something.
I think if you can take care of yourself, and then maybe try to take care of someone else, that's sort of how you're supposed to live.
I try to be alert and available. I try to be available for life to happen to me.
You have to be as light as you can be and not get weighed down and stuck in your emotion, stuck in your body, stuck in your head. You just want to always be trying to elevate somehow.
I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: 'try being rich first'. See if that doesn't cover most of it. There's not much downside to being rich, other than paying taxes and having your relatives ask you for money. But when you become famous, you end up with a 24-hour job.
Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself.
If you have a good script, that's what gets you involved. It's harder to write a good screenplay than to find something.
Something wild can happen to anybody and I caution anybody that walks out on the street, just settle your accounts before you leave the house every day.
I'd sort of gone through some sort of spiritual change in the late 70s where I sort of saw there was some other life to live. It changed the way that I worked just having a different presence and a different tension.
I'm just an obnoxious guy who can make it appear charming, that's what they pay me to do.
I improvise whenever I feel it's important, or whenever I think that something's there. It's nice to have a script that's so well-written that I don't have to improvise. I mean, I used to have to re-write whole movies; this is kind of nice.
Melancholy is kind of sweet sometimes, I think. It's not a negative thing. It's not a mean thing. It's just something that happens in life, like autumn.
I love the financing. It's fun to do studio movies, too. I think you should do both. You don't want to be this, "He's an independent film guy." It sounds like, "He makes his own dresses."