Last year I read The Tao of Bill Murray by Gavin Edwards. It’s a compilation of newsworthy antics from who else but The Murricane himself! Edwards begins the book by giving the reader a brief, but concise biography of Murray, which is all you really need, because I think most of us want Bill to remain a bit of a mystery. It’s part of why we like him so much. After all, the man doesn’t have a publicist or an agent, and STILL manages to get good work in the film industry, because he just seems to do whatever he wants whenever he wants, and he’s pretty much the coolest person on earth.
Edwards did a pretty thorough job of compiling almost every anecdote involving Bill that took place within the past 30 years or so, some even I had never heard about. To top things off, the book is filled with some fun illustrations:
To summarize the fundamental ideals of The Tao of Bill Murray, an interview with Melissa McCarthy is reminisced about in the book:
“A couple of years ago, I interviewed actress Melissa McCarthy at an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. When she told me about her first encounter with Bill Murray – in the makeup trailer for the 2014 movie St. Vincent – she remembered, ‘He was really funny and so distracting that I couldn’t even be nervous. He’s the most present person I have ever met. He’s not trying to alter himself for the situation – he’s absolutely in his shoes. If I could do that ten percent more in my life, I’d be a better, cooler person.’
I confided, ‘I feel like Bill Murray is secretly teaching us how to live.’
‘I have those theories myself, ‘ she said, her voice falling to a whisper. ‘You can’t read him. It’s all part of the magic.’
As for the man himself, what does he think about living in the present? Check out this snippet from a Charlie Rose interview in 2014:
Such wise words from a man who is usually perceived as silly. Also, if this man doesn’t think he’s living in the present, what in the hell are the rest of us doing?!?
Now, I don’t have a personal Bill Murray story of my own, but he has made an impact on my life over the years. Funny thing is, I used to hate him. In elementary school the teachers seemed to always, ALWAYS put on Groundhog Day when our recess time was ruined by a rainy day. The irony of the repetitiveness was lost on me at the time. All I knew was that this was supposed to be a romantic comedy, and Bill is not a conventionally attractive leading man, so WHAT WAS THE POINT? My disgust with this film bled into other films starring Bill. Whenever Ghostbusters was on the TV I had to change the channel.
Fast forward to high school, where I picked up a DVD copy of Stripes to watch, because I was knee deep in reruns of Night Court on A&E, and was smitten with John Larroquette who had a small role in Stripes. I thought I could brave the annoying antics of Bill Murray in exchange for a few minutes of screen time from Larroquette. Little did I know that the scene in the kitchen between Bill and one of the female MPs would spark a love for Bill Murray that has only grown stronger through the years. Here’s that scene for reference:
Looks like all I needed was a little Aunt Jemima treatment to cure my hatred of Bill. Ha! Seriously though, it was this scene that made me realize leading men don’t necessarily have to be physically attractive, but they do need to have the ability to make you laugh. To this day Stripes is one of my top favorite Bill Murray movies. I even put it in line before Ghostbusters.
Fast forward again to what was supposed to be my senior year of college. I’m skipping class due to depression, and I decide to watch a movie. For some reason, Lost in Translation comes to mind. I had never seen it before, and I remembered that when it hit the DVD shelves it seemed like every grown up in my life hated the movie. I thought maybe I would like it, and I was right. Once again Bill charmed me just like he did in the kitchen in Stripes. There was that one scene at the sushi bar with Scarlet Johansson where we see her character (Charlotte) really giggle for the first time in the film, and the scene following that where Bill takes her to get her bruised toe x-rayed. I think the big thing for me about this film wasn’t necessarily Bill, but the fact that I saw myself in Charlotte. We were around the same age, I was about to graduate college and had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I was sad, and I felt like my friends were too busy with their own lives to pay me any mind. This scene particularly got to me:
I also enjoyed the fact that Lost in Translation isn’t really what you’d call a happy film. I want to laugh, but I also want to be reminded about an overlaying sadness, and that’s what this film did for me. That’s what Bill does for me. He’s a comedian, but he’s also got this melancholy air about him that just won’t go away no matter how funny he is.
I’d like to end this blog post by sharing some of my favorite Bill Murray moments. If you have any you would like to share, please leave them in the comments. I DEFINITELY want to hear them.
Like Wild Onions 