Bill Murray says he's a lazy actor but now looking for new roles

Bill Murray admits he didn't actively seek out work as an actor. The “Groundhog Day” and “Lost in Translation” star has only appeared in a handful of independent films, such as 2024's ensemble crime comedy “Riff Raff” and in recent years the Naomi Watts-starring drama “Friends” 》.

“I've been lazy,” Murray said Sunday during a fireside chat with critic Elvis Mitchell in the Elvis Suite at the Sundance Film Festival. “I don't have an agent anymore, so I'm not the first person people think of being involved in a studio movie.”

However, Murray, who reprises his role in 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp and last year's Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, is once again eager to get back in front of the camera.

“It wasn’t until last year that making these (independent films) reawakened my sense of finding material,” he said. “I live the life of a bass…waiting for something to come to me. If something lands in my mouth, I'm going to eat it.”

Although the issue wasn't brought up in Sunday's chat, Murray's career has been on hold since an incident on the set of “Live and Let Die” in April 2022. Searchlight Pictures suspended filming after complaints of Murray's inappropriate behavior on set with a young female assistant. The film, Aziz Ansari's directorial debut and co-starring Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer, never resumed filming.

The former “Saturday Night Live” star addressed the controversy at the time, saying: “I had a disagreement with a woman I worked with. I did something that I thought was funny, but people didn't Don’t think so. The studio wanted to do the right thing, so they wanted to thoroughly inspect and investigate, so they stopped production.”

“Live and Let Die” isn't Murray's first on-set conflict. In the 2000 action comedy “Charlie's Angels,” star Lucy Liu reportedly rewrote a scene without Murray's knowledge and confronted Murray, accusing her of being “abusive.” Meanwhile, Geena Davis claimed that Murray harassed her during the filming of the 1990 crime comedy Quick Change, trying to use a massage device on her in a hotel room and then berating her on set.

During Sunday's invitation-only chat, Mitchell asked Murray how he plays men who “live lives of tremendous glamor” while being “aware of how toxic their glamor can be.” They were referring to Murray's recent roles in “Riff Raff,” about an ex-convict whose life is thrown into disarray when his old family faces a long-awaited reckoning; and “Friends,” in which Murray In it, Ray plays a writer who commits suicide and leaves his disciples to care for his Great Dane.

“It's always fun when you play someone who's done some damage. I've done some damage,” Murray said, without elaborating on his life. “Playing against them is kind of like a penance; to show that you take responsibility for it. Of course, what you do is always unintentional harm, but you're responsible for the harm you cause.”

During the wide-ranging 45-minute conversation, Murray discussed his longevity in Hollywood (“I was successful and it was hugely profitable. It paid for those shoes and socks”), his favorite co-stars (“Robert Duvall”) is the best actor I've ever worked with. But he can be grumpy”), recent flight movie choices (“Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook is impressive”) and mortality. (“Both in life and on stage, You must not be afraid of death”).

He brought the latter topic to the forefront, asking the densely packed room: “Who here is afraid of death? You have to get over this. This is a waste of time.”

When Murray's jokes don't sit well with his audience, he laughs at himself. Mitchell brought up the actor's performance on “Saturday Night Live,” to which Murray responded: “That show was never going to work.” Cue crickets in the congregation. “I thought I was going to get a laugh out of it…it's been going on for 50 years,” Murray lamented. “I'm lonely here,” Murray said later, when another jab failed. “You didn't see me giving up… I'm going to keep working with you guys.”

Murray doesn't mind being his own harshest critic. He doesn't seek out his old projects, but when something comes on TV, he listens to the comedy long enough to see if the comedy still holds up today. “Not everything is defensible,” he admits. One of them, he proves, is certainly the case with How's Bob? , a 1991 farce about a patient who follows his doctor on vacation.

“I haven't seen it in 15 years,” Murray said. “I saw it and said, 'Damn, this is so funny.'”