The real reason Bill Murray only directed one movie: “I thought I would do it all the time”
Actors trying their hand at directing have become increasingly common in Hollywood, and Bill Murray always imagined that he’d enjoy a prolific career behind the camera.
When he first decided to wield the megaphone, he believed it would lead him down a path where he’d become the next Clint Eastwood, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Warren Beatty, Mel Gibson, or Bradley Cooper; names of different generations who became movie stars before earning their directorial stripes.
Instead, he ended up like Marlon Brando, Nicolas Cage, Ryan Gosling, Eddie Murphy, and his old Saturday Night Live and Ghostbusters cohort, Dan Aykroyd; well-known and hugely successful on-camera performers who made one feature from the other side of the camera and decided it was more than enough.
It wasn’t supposed to be that way, though. Murray scratched his filmmaking itch pretty early, all things considered, with 1990’s Quick Change releasing just over a decade removed from his big-screen debut in Meatballs. He’d been bitten by the bug, but one disheartening experience was all it took to swear him off directing forever.
“I thought I would do it all the time,” he admitted to Matt Mueller. “I thought it would be a regular thing.” Quick Change wasn’t a hit, and he didn’t even helm it solo after sharing directorial duties with Howard Franklin, not to mention that the dramatic crime comedy bombed at the box office.
It’s an underrated gem that’s since attained cult favourite status, but it wasn’t the picture’s disappointing earnings or a miserable time trying to pull double duty that stopped Murray from taking another swing. Instead, it was Disney’s mothballing of his planned follow-up that convinced him never to direct again.
Having been blown away by Michel Blanc’s absurdist French-language caper Grosse Fatigue, or Dead Tired as it was known for its international release, Murray swooped in to secure the rights for a Hollywood remake, envisioning himself in the lead role of a famous movie star who starts losing his grip on sanity when the pitfalls of fame become too much to bear.
“I wrote a really funny script with my friend Mitch Glazer,” he elaborated. “And Disney said, ‘This is the greatest script we’ve seen in five years.’ Then, three days later, went, ‘We don’t want to make this movie.’ It was such a low blow. It knocked the wind out of me.”
Murray’s enthusiasm for the project was palpable, with the narrative hinging on a doppleganger who’s really responsible for the problems that plague the protagonist’s personal and professional lives. He was happy to co-write, direct, and play two roles onscreen, and was excited about how the story “spoke very much to the celebrity culture we have now.”
Unfortunately, when Disney opted not to give his Grosse Fatigue remake the green light, Murray was shattered. That was 30 years ago, and he’s never shown any inclination to direct since, which underlines just how much of a crushing blow he suffered when the ‘Mouse House’ turned him down. After that, he was an actor, an occasional writer, but never wanted to be a director again.
