Complaint About Bill Murray’s Behavior Led To Pause In New Film’s Production

The film Being Mortal, set to be the feature directorial debut of Aziz Ansari which stars Ansari, Bill Murray and Seth Rogen, reportedly paused production after the film’s studio Searchlight Pictures received a complaint regarding alleged “inappropriate” on-set behavior by Murray.

Production was first halted on Monday before Searchlight made the decision to suspend production indefinitely as they finish an investigation into the complaint. An anonymous production employee told Deadline that the complaint was connected to “inappropriate behavior” by Murray but didn’t provide any more details.

The film is an adaptation of the book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters In The End by Atul Gawande, which recounts the author’s life experiences as a medical doctor with several stories related to terminally-ill patients. Ansari is attached to the film as director and star, and producer of The Lighthouse Youree Henley is the listed producer. Both Ansari and Henley are cooperating in the investigation, and Searchlight made it clear that no complaints have been made against Ansari.

The film was about halfway through principal photography which began on March 28, and it has yet to be determined what Murray’s role in the film will be going forward. An indefinite suspension could certainly push back the film’s planned 2023 release window, but that remains to be seen.

Murray has occasionally clashed with his co-stars in some of his past films. In a 2021 interview with The Los Angeles Times, Lucy Liu said that Murray began “to sort of hurl insults” at her while rehearsing a scene in the 2000 film Charlie’s Angels. She also referred to his language as “excusable and unacceptable,” and decried press coverage at the time as painting her as the instigator of the fight when she stood up for herself after being insulted.

Actor Richard Dreyfuss also said Murray got in his face while drunk and referred to the actor as “an Irish drunken bully,” when they worked together on the set of What About Bob? He said upon making a suggestion to Murray during a script reading that 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!'”