Murray’s tired but not retired
Bill Murray is watching police chase a white pickup truck along the highways of Houston. And when the driver veers in the direction of the one thing Murray deems holy, he is suddenly shouting.
“This (guy) is going to drive over a golf course! Oh, no!” he yells into the phone, only slightly relieved when the pickup turns away. “If he had drove over the green, I would have had to hang up and get involved with the chase. That would have been just disrespect.”
Murray – a renowned golfer, besides actor and comedian – discussed his remaining goals in Hollywood during a conversation punctuated by exclamations about the pickup.
Ostensibly talking about an appearance on Discovery Channel’s “American Chopper” series, Murray zigzagged much like the chase he was watching, spouting theories on getaways and the reasons behind his current break from the big screen.
“I tell people I’m retired,” says Murray, 55.
This at first sounds like bombshell news. But he continues.
“I kinda like this Jay-Z thing, where he’s retired, but he keeps doing shows. I think I beat him to that,” Murray says. “If you say you’re retired, people don’t bother you so much, and then if you want to do something, you can do it.”
Murray, who lives with his wife, Jennifer Butler, and their four children in upstate New York (he has two more children from a previous marriage), hasn’t acted in a live-action film since 2005’s “Broken Flowers.” (He did the voice for “Garfield” and its 2006 sequel.)
But he has no plans to do anything anytime soon. A month ago he nearly took a part in a movie costarring Sienna Miller about a dead girl whose body is decomposing throughout the movie, but passed.
“I made several movies in a row,” he explains. “I made one where I was gone for 51/2 months (“Lost in Translation”). It takes a toll. … I’m basically lazy. I work really hard when I work, but I try to avoid work.”
In the midst of explaining that he has relished working with indie directors Sofia Coppola and Jim Jarmusch – directors in “complete control” of their films – Murray again veers off.
“Oooh, and they just crashed into something because he can’t steer anymore. And he’s armed and he’s dangerous!” he laughs.
This all brings to mind some memorable chase scenes in Murray’s films – like the Army RV he and Harold Ramis drive into Czechoslovakia in “Stripes,” the suicidal dash in “Groundhog Day” or his naive getaway in the underrated “The Man Who Knew Too Little,” where he gleefully runs over a row of construction cones.
In this way, Murray is perhaps an expert in the field.
“Don’t they understand that this helicopter business is a problem?” he wonders.
The birthday bunch
Country singer Billy Grammer is 81. Actor Ben Gazzara is 76. Actor Ken Jenkins (“Scrubs”) is 66. Actor David Soul is 63. Singer Wayne Osmond is 55. Actor Daniel Stern is 49. Actress Emma Samms is 46. Country singer Shania Twain is 41. Actor Billy Boyd (“Lord of the Rings”) is 38. Actor-singer Jack Black is 37. Actor Jason Priestley (“Beverly Hills, 90210”) is 37. Actor J. August Richards (“Angel”) is 33. Country singer Leann Rimes is 24.