‘Riff Raff’ director Dito Montiel was “in awe” of Bill Murray while making new movie
In an exclusive interview with Far Out, Riff Raff director Dito Montiel has admitted he was “in awe” of star Bill Murray while shooting the movie.
The film, released on February 28th, 2025, also stars Pete Davidson, Gabrielle Union, Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris and Lewis Pullman. It has been a long time in the making for Montiel, who first announced the project in 2023 before shooting it last year and finally sharing it with an audience at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
It marks the eighth feature of Montiel’s career since he began directing after turning his memoirs into the 2006 motion picture A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, which starred Robert Downey Jr as Montiel.
Since then, despite being in the world of independent cinema rather than big blockbusters, Montiel is no stranger to being surrounded by A-list talent. In addition to working with Downey Jr, other huge stars to have starred in his films include Robin Williams, Channing Tatum, Al Pacino, Gary Oldman, Dwayne Johnson, Amanda Seyfried and Liam Hemsworth.
However, working alongside Murray was a particular highlight for Montiel. The director explained to Far Out of his casting as Lefty: “One of the producers, Adam Paulsen, had called me just a couple of weeks before filming and said, ‘I think you’re going to get a call from Bill Murray today; I’ll give you the area code’. And he goes, ‘If you see that area code, you better answer it.’”
“It rang, and it was one of those really exciting moments as a fan for my whole life, of course,” the director confessed. “And then, funnily enough, I saw an interview with Bill Murray recently where I would say it’s true, having known him, where he says, ‘When you do a movie, we can be friends as long as we’re ready to work’. And he’s very serious about his role. Certainly, it seems, he takes it very seriously. He talked about every single line in the entire movie with me.”
Montiel continued: “Sometimes, you’re a bit in awe. I’m thinking, ‘I can’t believe Bill Murray gives that much of a shit’. I mean, I certainly do, but it’s nice that he does, you know? And it was a pleasant surprise that a guy at that level would come and do a role like this and take it deadly seriously. And then, what a guy like him can bring to a line that you thought was interesting, usually a lot more interesting than whatever you had imagined.”
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