Anjelica Huston on the unpredictability of working with Bill Murray: “Something of a man of mystery”
As a member of a famous Hollywood dynasty and former long-term partner of Jack Nicholson, Anjelica Huston grew up in the business and has seen virtually everything it has to offer, both on-screen and off.
Her ‘Best Supporting Actress’ win for her father’s Prizzi’s Honor made her the third generation of her family to claim an Academy Award after grandfather Walter took home ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his son’s classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which scooped filmmaker John his own two trophies for ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’.
Brother Danny and nephew Jack are also established actors who keep the Huston name alive and well in cinema, with the family business continuing to thrive. In a career that’s spanned over half a century, Anjelica has lent her name to some all-time classics, box office hits, and ignominious disasters, meaning it probably takes a very different or unique performer or production to make a lasting impression at this point.
However, she found one when being welcomed into one of the industry’s most famous repertories, and she’s hardly alone in sharing her belief that Bill Murray works in an entirely different way from anyone else she’s ever encountered. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing on every occasion, but the comedy icon does have a habit of rubbing people the wrong way on a regular basis.
The pair have been part of the same ensemble in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Isle of Dogs, The Darjeeling Limited, and The French Dispatch, so Murray’s idiosyncratic approach to his profession hasn’t dissuaded her from collaborating with him ever again.
That being said, the way she described his process to the BBC makes it sound as though it isn’t always the easiest thing in the world. “Working with Bill is a bit like being on a high diving board and not knowing quite how deep the water is that you’re jumping into,” she explained, before offering even more specific examples.
“There are moments with Bill where your trailer door will fly open at 7 o’clock in the morning, and he’ll come in with an armload of narcissus and start your coffeemaker, and you’ll feel like he really, truly loves you,” Huston continued. “And then there’ll be another day when he invites the entire cast and crew to dinner. But not you.”
The Oscar winner acknowledged that “it’s a little bit hard to negotiate” that sort of personality because she thinks “most actors need to be liked”. As a result, she felt herself “getting trepidatious around him” after gaining the impression that “his particular brand of intelligence requires some sort of comeback”. If Huston – or anyone else for that matter – wasn’t quick enough on the draw, then “he can run you down like a steamroller.”
Summing up an industry-wide assessment, Huston branded Murray as “something of a man of mystery but also extremely charming and really smart.” It’s an opinion shared by many within the film business, but at least she knows how to navigate around it.
