Wes Anderson Clarifies Why Bill Murray Isn't In ASTEROID CITY and Why He'll Continue to Work With Him

As you may have heard, Bill Murray has been facing various misconduct claims made against him. Many people believe that these accusations are the reason why the actor is not in director Wes Anderson’s upcoming film Asteroid City. You see, this is the first film that Murray hasn’t appeared in an Anderson film since he started working with him on Rushmore.

During a recent interview with IndieWire, Anderson wanted to set the record straight that Bill Murray is family, and he has no plans to stop working with him. The whole reason why Murray didn’t end up appearing in Astroid City is because he got Covid. Anderson explained:

“My experience with Bill is so extensive. Bill was such a great supporter of me from the very beginning. I don’t want to speak about somebody else’s experience, but he’s really part of my family. You know, he’s my daughter’s godfather. In fact, he actually baptized her. He’s the one who splashed the water.”

Anderson then confirmed that Murray’s inappropriate behavior will not impact their working relationship and explained the situation surrounding Asteroid City:

“There was some confusion about what happened with Bill. He was supposed to play the motel manager who Steve Carell plays, and Bill got COVID four days before he was supposed to start shooting. He was in Ireland and in the case of our movie, we had schedules of so many people that are all puzzled around. The people who Bill was supposed to play scenes with were going to be gone by the time he cleared the COVID protocols and stuff. And in fact, he was quite sick. So Bill missed his part and Steve Carell came in quite suddenly. He was great, I loved having him. I met him, he arrived, and we were immediately shooting.”

Anderson went on to say: “Then when Bill got better, he came to Spain. At the end of the movie [where ‘Asteroid’ shot], we finished the movie, and Bill and I got in a car and drove to France. It was a great way to finish but it was the first time I hadn’t had him in a movie in a long time.”

As for what happened with Murray, while he was making Aziz Ansari’s feature directorial debut, Being Mortal, there were complaints made about his behavior on set and the production was shut down. Murray talked about that saying:

“I had a difference of opinion with a woman I’m working with. I did something I thought was funny and it wasn’t taken that way. The movie studio wanted to do the right thing, so they wanted to check it all out and investigate it and so they stopped the production.

As of now we’re talking and we’re trying to make peace with each other. We’re both professionals. We like each other’s work — we like each other, I think. If we can’t get along and trust each other, there’s no point in going further working together or making a movie… It’s been quite an education for me.”

I’m sure that there will be some people who won’t want to work with Murray again, but Anderson obviously is not one of them. They will continue to make fun and quirky movies together.