If you ever want to contact the great Bill Murray, there is a 1-800 number that will put you in semi-direct contact with the comedy superstar. A friend gave me this number years ago when I was writing a play that would have been enhanced by the legendary actor’s contribution. I called Bill Murray twice. He never answered my calls. Maybe my pitching skills were bad. Maybe I should have reminded him of the time we did one at the Café des Artistes in 2005.
Regardless, Murray is notoriously slippery, even if you bring him into the room. A renowned producer once told me that they introduced him to the film “Press Your Luck” – which was eventually made as “The Luckiest Man in America” starring Paul Walter Hauser – over lunch at a New York restaurant. In the middle of the meeting, Murray excused himself to go to the bathroom. After 10 minutes of absence, the producer went to see him in the men’s room. The room was empty and the window was wide open.
It doesn’t matter who you are. If Murray is unsure about working with you, he will put you to the test. Ryan Reynolds discovered this while trying to get the “Saturday Night Live” alum for an interview in the Colin Hanks-directed documentary “John Candy: I Like Me.” You’d think a movie star of Reynolds’ magnitude could make an agent-to-agent contact and have this interview fall apart easily. Murray just doesn’t work that way. /Film’s Ethan Anderton, while attending a Q&A in Chicago for the documentary, learned this firsthand.
Want to talk to Bill Murray? Review your spitting history
Asked during the Q&A session about Murray’s search, Reynolds mentioned that the star was once reachable primarily by fax. He then found an acquaintance who had Murray’s phone number. By Reynolds:
“I told this person, ‘Look, I don’t want to involve you, so I need you to give me the number through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend.’ And he did it. Eventually someone called me and gave me their phone number, and the outgoing voicemail was to a Greek shipping company. I believed him. Damn, it was authentic.”
I did not receive the message from the Greek shipping company (perhaps a reference to “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou”) when I called Murray. I just got a beep and then hurriedly left my message. However, I didn’t leave between 40 and 50 messages. Reynolds did so, and he eventually received a call from Murray on his way to a gala. Reynolds took the call and it didn’t go well.
Murray pointedly asked Reynolds who “the godfather of spitting” was. My friends, there is an answer here. This is Danny Thomas from Toledo, Ohio. Alas, Reynolds overthought the matter. “I’m very lucky,” he said. “When I was younger, I had a friend who, from vaudeville, basically gave me college comedy history to Jack Benny and all that kind of stuff, and I was very grateful for that. So I said, ‘That would be Desi Arnaz, Bill.'” Unsatisfied with Reynolds’ answer, Murray hung up.
Reynolds eventually decided to gather his children together to record a video in which they helped him beg Murray to do the interview. This broke down Murray’s defenses and he ended up giving the interview that ties together the documentary.
So if you ever need to interview Bill Murray and are lucky enough to get his phone number, track down the old dog. But maybe don’t tell him you’re Ryan Reynolds.
