New details have emerged about the misconduct allegations against Bill Murray during filming for Being Mortal earlier this year, including claims he “kissed” and “straddled” a female staffer.
Accusations of Murry’s “inappropriate behaviour” on the set of Aziz Ansari‘s directorial debut first surfaced in April and led Searchlight Pictures to suspend production.
Several complaints were reportedly made about Murray, including claims he was “very hands-on touchy” with women on set — though a ~source~ told New York Post the touching was never “in any personal areas”.
Puck News has since released a report that suggests Murray paid $100,000 to settle a misconduct complaint by a woman who said she was “horrified” by an “entirely sexual” incident.
Multiple sources said Murray was in “close proximity” to a bed when he straddled the woman and kissed her through a mask. A second staffer corroborated the woman’s story and also filed a complaint, which is when production halted.
The woman reportedly agreed to confidentiality as well as to waive any legal claims against Being Mortal producers, Searchlight and its parent company Disney.
After the investigation was initially called, Murray said he thought he was being “funny”.
“I did something I thought was funny and it wasn’t taken that way,” Murray told CNBC at the time.
“What I always thought was funny as a little kid isn’t necessarily the same as what’s funny now.”
No shit, grabbing a woman and forcefully kissing her is not funny. Especially given the power dynamic. Fkn gross.
This isn’t the first time people, and women in particular, have made complaints about Billy Murray’s behaviour or accused him of misconduct.
Geena Davis, who was in Quick Change (1989) with Murray, said in her memoir that he “insisted” on using a massage device on her after “she said no multiple times”. She also said he “screamed” at her in front of hundreds of staff on set.
Lucy Liu has frequently spoken out about being verbally abused by Murray on the set of Charlie’s Angels.
“It was unjust, uncalled for and some of the language was inexcusable and unacceptable,” she told the Asian Enough podcast.
Ben Dreyfuss claimed earlier this year that Disney was forced to hire bodyguards to protect the cast and crew of What About Bob? (1991) because of Bill Murray.
He tweeted that Murray “had a meltdown” because producer Laura Ziskin had denied him an extra day off.
Dreyfuss claimed Murray then “ripped off her glasses off her face and my dad [Richard Dreyfuss] complained about his behaviour and Bill Murray threw an ashtray at him.”
“Everyone walked off the production and flew back to LA and it only resumed after Disney hired some bodyguards to physically separate my dad and Bill Murray in between takes,” he added.
Richard Dreyfuss, for his part, detailed the ashtray incident in 2009.
“He put his face next to me, nose-to-nose, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, ‘Everyone hates you! You are tolerated!’” he revealed, per Page Six.
“There was no time to react because he leaned back and he took a modern glass-blown ashtray, he threw it at my face from [only a couple feet away]. And it weighed about three-quarters of a pound. And he missed me. He tried to hit me. I got up and left.”
Bill Murray has yet to comment on the new report on his alleged misconduct.
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