Bill Murray, ‘Lost in Translation’ and his questionable book of dirty phrases
From his beginnings as a member of Saturday Night Live to his wide range of roles in everything from Ghostbusters to Broken Flowers, Bill Murray has enjoyed a successful career over a variety of genres.
To younger audiences, he is perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with Wes Anderson, starring in The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, among others. Yet Murray has been working since the 1970s, partnering with mainstream directors and those with more indie leanings. His career has subsequently spanned blockbusters and more experimental cuts, making him a well-known figure.
In 2003, he appeared in Sofia Coppola’s second film, Lost in Translation, which would become one of the decade’s most acclaimed works. He featured alongside a young Scarlett Johansson, who was just 17 at the time. Both actors played Americans struggling to adapt to living in Japan, with Murray portraying an ageing actor now resorting to television commercials and Johansson starring as a young graduate accompanying her husband on a work trip. The pair meet and find a sense of comfort within each other’s presence, subsequently enjoying karaoke and food together.
Coppola ended up winning an Oscar for ‘Best Original Screenplay’, and Murray and Johansson’s performances were also praised. Yet, the film has also been criticised for its depiction of Japan, with some viewers believing that the film showed Japanese people to be far removed from Americans, essentially othering them. Despite taking place in Japan, there aren’t any developed Japanese characters, instead we are totally immersed in the inner worlds of Murray and Johansson’s Bob and Charlotte.
To many critics, the film gave a very American view of Japan, perpetuating stereotypes about the country. These claims were not helped by the fact that a story about Murray being rather disrespectful to Japanese people circulated after the film’s release. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Coppola was asked if it was true that “during filming he had this book of dirty phrases in Japanese, and he would go around saying them to random people.”
In response, Coppola verified the claim, stating, “Oh yeah! He had a book called Making Out in Japanese, and it was for, like, sailors abroad — pickup lines. He would try them out on the waitress, or someone working at the hotel, and it was funny to watch their reactions. He was a lot of fun. We shot it really quick, and were working crazy hours. We had to move really fast, and he was helping pick up equipment and move it along.”
While it sounds like Murray was just trying to have a bit of fun, it appears as though he wasn’t the most respectful of those around him, treating Japanese people differently than Americans.
Despite these claims, Lost in Translation remains highly lauded by fans and critics alike, perhaps due to its complex study of isolation, a theme that Coppola frequently returns to. Lost in Translation certainly helped to bolster Coppola’s career – it’s a shame that Murray felt the need to obnoxiously annoy Japanese locals while on set.
