Bill Murray seems to resemble Bob Harris, the tired, overexposed movie star he played in “Lost In Translation,” as he enters the room at the Four Seasons Hotel during the Tribeca Film Festival this week.
He immediately makes a beeline for the heavily curtained sliding doors.
“Can we have class outside today?” he says, stepping out onto the patio. Bemused publicists give a nervous laugh before Murray reappears with a bored grin on his face and sits down.
He’s promoting his latest project, the small film “Get Low.” It’s about old recluse Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), who approaches a funeral home director (Murray) to hold Bush’s funeral before he dies so he can hear the rumors people believe about him.
“I like the idea of having a funeral before you’re gone,” says Murray. “It’d be sort of a baby roast. You’d get nailed. Suffering is the difference between reality and what you think reality is. That could get your suffering done before your final hour.”
Murray has recently been a target of tall tales himself, as buzz has been building about a “Ghostbusters” sequel (see sidebar). But there was also a more colorful bit of gossip out there, he recalls.
“There was one that said I used to go on European sex romps, which I thought was kind of funny,” he says. “I got a few phone calls from friends saying, ‘Hey, thanks for letting me know you’re going over.’”
One absolutely true quirk about Murray is the habit of bringing a boombox on set, blasting music in between takes.
“I believe that you bring music to the set not to be like, ‘Y’all gotta listen to my crap music,’” Murray says dryly. “It’s not like Sammy Sosa’s boom box or anything. It’s basically to keep tempo because it’s the work in between when people get moody and down. [The music] keeps everybody positive, keeps everybody joyous.”
