Bill Murray to Star in Wes Anderson’s Next Film

UPDATE: I’m hearing that Bill Murray will star, alongside Michael Cera and Benicio del Toro, in Wes Anderson’s next film. This is great news given that Murray did not appear in Anderson’s last one, “Asteroid City,” which ended a nine-film run between Anderson and his long-time acting muse.

This is great news as we were wondering if Anderson would ever work with Murray again. Last year, Anderson was asked about the on-set misconduct allegations thrown against Murray last year, an incident which occurred during the production of Aziz Ansari’s “Being Mortal.” Here’s Anderson’s response:

My experience with Bill is so extensive. Bill was such a great supporter of me from the very beginning. I don’t want to speak about somebody else’s experience, but he’s really part of my family. You know, he’s my daughter’s godfather. In fact, he actually baptized her. He’s the one who splashed the water.

This is what you call integrity. Thank you, Wes, for not succumbing to a mob that was drooling for you to call out one of your best friends, and for giving this eloquently passionate response. Many others would have just thrown Murray under the bus for the sake of furthering their careers, but not Anderson. Kudos.

Murray and Anderson are one of the great actor/director duos of the 21st century; they’ve teamed up on a whopping nine films, including “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

EARLIER: Wes Anderson has been careful in divulging details about his next film, still untitled, which he describes as “espionage”.

The filmmaker has mentioned that Benicio del Toro and Michael Cera are indeed part of the cast, with del Toro being in every single shot of the film. There is a third lead that’s been cast, but Anderson is not ready to reveal the name just yet. Maybe it’s Bill Murray?

All of this to say that I’m hearing production on the film is set to begin in a few months, possibly in late Spring, and that, although the tightly-knit plot revolves around three keys characters, there will be some Anderson regulars showing up with smaller roles.

Before the Writer’s strike began, Anderson had just finished the script. He’s a co-writer this time around, with ‘Life Aquatic’ scribe Roman Coppola helping him out. Anderson has said that this next film would be “linear”, and that it would tackle family dynamics:

I can’t tell you much more than that except that it will be about espionage, a father-daughter relationship, and, let’s say, with a rather dark tone.

The film was originally aiming to shoot last fall, but the strikes delayed production. This latest film would have no more than three main roles, a change from his last few ensemble films (“Asteroid City” and “The French Dispatch”). Minimalist casting is always welcome.

This is a project that’s been pushed back for a long time, possibly from the last decade, but that Anderson admits he finally forced himself to tackle.