“Don’t spend this money”: The movie Bill Murray was convinced everyone would hate for a decade
Sometimes, even if no one else is, and nothing seems to be working in your favour, you’ve got to be in your own corner, and as an example for that, just look to Bill Murray.
However, maybe don’t look to Bill Murray for any other sort of guidance, as broadly, he’s well known as a nightmare on set. When filming Lost In Translation, Scarlett Johansson was open about how the duo didn’t get on, Lucy Liu accused him of “unacceptable and inexcusable” behaviour on the set of Charlie’s Angels, and Richard Dreyfuss straight up called him “an Irish drunken bully”.
The fact is, as bad as it might sound, Murray gets away with it because he’s a talent. With such a strong filmography and so much respect in the industry, the actor, by now, is backed to do whatever he wants. It’s allowed him a career of chopping and changing, dipping between genres, roles and types of projects from slapstick comedies to heavier dramas.
But back in the day, when he was a new face, sometimes he truly was the only person who believed in his abilities.
That was especially the case in 1990. The proof of Murray’s belief in his movie Quick Change is right there on the tin as he not only signed on to be the lead role, but also as the co-director and co-producer. It was his directorial debut, and so he clearly was all in on this crime comedy.
“The most fun movie experience I’ve ever had, until the release,” Murray admitted in 1993. With three years of distance from the film, he had thoughts on what had turned out to be a complete commercial flop; having spent a budget of $17million, the film only grossed $15.3m worldwide.
On release, Murray had to face up to the fact that while this was his passion project, seemingly no one else cared. “Nobody was selling the movie,” he said, putting the blame on Warner Bros, who were distributing the film. He was so frustrated that he’d even tried to stop it, explaining, “The week before it came out, I said, ‘Don’t even open the movie now. Let’s start over, and I’ll do another round of press junkets. Don’t spend this money, it’s a waste of time’.”
Obviously, though, it can’t work like that. The film came out to absolutely no attention, and Murray’s beloved project was covered in dust.
Even still, in an act of resilience, he stood by it. “I think in ten years, people are going to say, ‘That was a really good movie”,’ he said. It’s been decades now, though, and while Quick Change and Murray’s performance in it did gain some good reviews eventually, it hasn’t become a masterpiece in retrospect as he had hoped.
