Bill Murray Explains How His Behaviour Towards Woman Led To His Last Film Being Shut Down

Being Mortal star Bill Murray has reflected on inappropriate on-set behaviour which led to a shut down of production on the film.

Production company Searchlight Pictures informed staff of the shut down in a letter sent last month, explaining it had been 'made aware of a complaint' and had looked into it 'immediately'.

Murray stars alongside Aziz Ansari and Seth Rogen in the film, which is based on Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. The film was about halfway finished when production was halted, but it is currently unclear whether Murray will continue with the project.

Alamy

The actor opened up about the matter during an interview with CNBC's Becky Quick amid coverage of the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting this week, explaining the halt in production stemmed from him having a 'difference of opinion' with a woman he was working with on the film.

“I did something I thought was funny and it wasn’t taken that way," he said.

Murray told Quick he had spent the previous week thinking about the incident, and while he did not elaborate on exactly what was said or who was involved he assured both he and the other party were now 'talking and... trying to make peace with each other'.

He explained: "We are both professionals, we like each others’ work, we like each other I think and if we can’t really get along and trust each other there’s no point in going further working together or making the movie as well. It’s been quite an education for me.”

Alamy

With the film slated for release in 2023, Murray said he was optimistic the parties were 'going to make peace' and that production would restart, though he noted he would only move forward with the project if the woman involved in the incident was comfortable with the arrangement.

Discussing learning from his mistakes, Murray said: "I think it’s a sad dog that can’t learn anymore. That’s a really sad puppy that can’t learn anymore. I don’t want to be that sad dog and I have no intention of it.

“What would make me the happiest would be to put my boots on and for both of us to go back into work and be able to trust each other and work at the work that we’ve both spent a lot of time developing the skill of."

In the letter sent to staff, Searchlight Pictures assured it hoped to resume production and said it was working with Ansari and producer Youree Henley to 'figure out that timing'.

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