Bill Murray is accused of kissing and straddling female movie staffer

Bill Murray is accused of paying female movie staffer $100,000 ‘after he kissed her body, pinned her down and straddled her, leaving woman unable to move’: Funnyman was branded bully by Geena Davis last week

• Details of Bill Murray’s alleged ‘inappropriate’ behavior have emerged six months after the alleged act took place on the set of Being Mortal
• Several people have told how Murray allegedly straddled and kissed a ‘much younger’ female production staffer while wearing masks
• The staffer ‘interpreted his actions as entirely sexual’ and was ‘horrified’, it is alleged
• Woman then made an official complaint entering mediation before reaching a settlement of just over $100,000 that included a non-disclosure agreement
• Ansari’s project which was 50 percent completed is likely to be cancelled having been halted since the ‘behavior’ occurred

Bill Murray paid a female staffer a $100,000 after he kissed and straddled her on set, leading to the movie being canned, it has been claimed.  

The 72-year-old comedian was working on Being Mortal earlier this year when he is said to have interacted with the unidentified woman.

She claims she was unable to move because of his weight, it is alleged, with Murray later paying the woman $100,000, it was reported.

The April incident on the set of the $20 million movie – controversial comedian Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut – caused Disney to shut down production, and there’s no indication as to whether the movie will ever be completed.  

Murray had been overly friendly and allegedly ‘sexual’ with one female production staffer – whose name has been kept anonymous, according to Puck. 

The actor claims that he believed the woman had been flirting with him and at one stage, he and the woman were close to a bed.

It was then that he allegedly began kissing her body and straddling her, leaving her unable to move because of his weight on top of her.  

Details of Bill Murray’s alleged ‘inappropriate’ behavior have emerged six months after the alleged act took place on the set of comedian Aziz Ansari’s Being Mortal

https://youtube.com/watch?v=__0WWtE15Vo%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

Murray told CNBC that he had a ‘difference of opinion’ with a woman he was working with on the film, but did not name the woman or give any details about what happened

The 72-year-old actor had the complaint filed against him in the spring before new film Being Mortal (pictured, the book its based on) was temporarily shelved, it was claimed

Murray then moved in to kiss the woman on the mouth, although the pair were both wearing face masks, it is claimed. The alleged action took place in front of witnesses. 

Murray immediately said his antics were meant to be playful but the woman saw it as sexual and was said to be horrified by what had occurred, according to Puck.

The woman immediately complained, with her allegations backed up by a second staffer who saw what happened, it is claimed. 

Searchlight suspended the production of the film, although the exact reasons were not detailed in an any company memo distributed to the crew.

It would be Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut.  

A source told Puck how Murray felt terrible over what had happened, particularly that fellow crew members lost their jobs as a result of the production halting. 

Murray and the woman eventually reached a settlement with the actor paying her just over $100,000 in exchange for complete confidentiality as part of a non-disclosure agreement, Puck reported. 

The woman is also said to have waived any rights to legal claims she might have been able to make against the producers, including Searchlight and Disney. 

Speaking on CNBC in April, Murray was coy with the details when he was asked what happened.

‘I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way. As of now we are talking and we are trying to make peace with each other,’ Murray said. 

‘Being Mortal,’ based on Atul Gawande’s nonfiction book ‘Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,’ was to star Murray, as well as Aziz Ansari and Seth Rogan 

‘We are both professionals, we like each others’ work, we like each other I think and if we can’t really get along and trust each other there’s no point in going further working together or making the movie as well. It’s been quite an education for me.

‘The world’s different than it was when I was a little kid,’ he added. ‘Things change, times change.’

Murray had believed that the resolution might see production on the movie restart, but in the MeToo era, that simply hasn’t happened and it now appears that the film which been half shot, and also starred Seth Rogan, will ultimately be cancelled. 

Last week, Geena Davis detailed her own unpleasant experiences working with Bill Murray on their 1990 crime comedy Quick Change in her new memoir Dying Of Politeness.

The 66-year-old acting icon revealed on Friday to The Times how Murray allegedly created an uncomfortable atmosphere during her audition for the film, which he starred in and also co-directed with Howard Franklin.

According to her, Murray screamed at her in front of ‘hundreds’ of people on set because she was allegedly late, though she says she was merely delayed by the wardrobe department. 

Geena Davids, 66, wrote in her memoir Dying Of Politeness about her terrible experiences working with Bill Murray on their 1990 crime comedy Quick Change; seen in 2019 in LA

According to a Times summary, ‘[Davis is] introduced to [Murray], she writes, in a hotel suite, where Murray greets her with something called The Thumper, a massage device he insists on using on her, despite her emphatically refusing.’

The concerning encounter was followed up by a more humiliating incident when the Royal Tenenbaums actor allegedly lost his temper while filming Quick Change.

‘Later, while they’re filming on location, Murray tracks Davis down in her trailer and begins screaming at her for being late (she’s waiting for her wardrobe), continues to scream at her as she hurries onto the set and even as she gets there, in front of hundreds of cast, crew, curious passers-by,’ the publication added.

‘That was bad,’ Davis said of her audition with Murray as she mused about how she might have handled the incident differently. 

Hard time: She wrote that Murray — who also co-directed the film — used a massage device on her against her will during her audition, and he later screamed at her in front of ‘hundreds’ of people on set for allegedly being late; still from Quick Change

‘The way he behaved at the first meeting… I should have walked out of that or profoundly defended myself, in which case I wouldn’t have got the part. I could have avoided that treatment if I’d known how to react or what to do during the audition. But, you know, I was so non-confrontational that I just didn’t…’ she said.

However, she conceded that her words could be construed as victim blaming when it was pointed out to her.

‘Ha. Point taken. There’s no point in regretting things, and yet, here I was regretting. And yes, exactly, it wasn’t my fault,’ she said.

So far, Murray has not responded publicly to Davis’ remarks, either in the interview or in her book. 

Last year, the actress Lucy Liu also described the verbal abuse Murray allegedly threw at her while they worked together on the action comedy Charlie’s Angels; seen in July 2021 in Cannes, France

Last year, the actress Lucy Liu also described the verbal abuse Murray allegedly threw at her while they worked together on the action comedy Charlie’s Angels.

‘As we’re doing the scene, Bill starts to sort of hurl insults, and I won’t get into the specifics, but it kept going on and on,’ she described on the Asian Enough podcast.

The film and television star, who called the former Saturday Night Live star’s insult ‘unacceptable’ and ‘inexcusable,’ added that she ‘was not going to just sit there and take it.’ 

‘So, yes, I stood up for myself and I don’t regret it. Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there’s no need to condescend or to put other people down. And I would not stand down, and nor should I have,’ she added defiantly.

On the 2000 action-comedy ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ actress Lucy Liu (right) reportedly confronted Murray for ‘hurling insults’ at her following a rewrite of a scene without his knowledge

The star also reportedly headbutted Charlie’s Angel’s director Joseph McGinty Nichol – known professionally as McG, ‘square on the head.’ 

‘An inch later and my nose would have been obliterated,’ he told the Guardian in 2009. 

Murray denied the claim, telling the Times: ‘That’s bulls**t! That’s complete crap! I don’t know why he made that story up. He has a very active imagination.’

The Ghostbusters star also famously got into an altercation on the SNL set in 1978 with Chevy Chase. 

The fight reportedly broke out have the pair started to throw insults at each other. Murray importantly told Chase to go have sex with his then-wife Jacqueline Carlin. 

Chase retorted Murray’s face look ‘like something Neil Armstrong landed on,’ according to the book Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. 

Murray (left) also allegedly got into a physical altercation with SNL costar Chevy Chase (right) after they started insulting each other and Chase told him his face looked ‘like something Neil Armstrong landed on’

Murray also once threw an ashtray at Richard Dreyfuss’ head after a ‘meltdown’ on set of What About Bob.

Dreyfuss’ son Ben, 35, revealed on Twitter earlier this year how Murray allegedly threw an ashtray at his father’s head and threatened to ‘throw’ a female producer across a parking lot and ‘ripped off her glasses’ during the meltdown after being denied an extra day off on the What About Bob set in 1991. 

Ben also revealed bodyguards had to be on set once filming resumed to separate the Murray and Dreyfuss, 74. 

‘Everyone walked off the production and flew back to LA and it only resumed after Disney hired some bodyguards to physically separate my dad and Bill Murray in between takes,’ he said in a tweet. 

Ben also revealed that he was ‘like five’ when the altercation happened, but still said his time on the set included some of his ‘fondest and earliest memories’ and praised the movie as being ‘good.’

The rumor of the ashtray incident, among others, have apparently been circling Hollywood for decades and Dreyfuss even addressed it in 2009. 

‘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!’ the actor said at the time. 

‘There was no time to react because he leaned back and he took a modern glass-blown ashtray. He threw it at my face from [only a couple feet away]. And it weighed about three-quarters of a pound. And he missed me. He tried to hit me. I got up and left.’  

Dreyfuss had complained about Murray’s behavior toward ‘petite’ producer Laura Ziskin, who denied Murray the day off. In 2013, she revealed to the Los Angeles Times: ‘Bill … threatened to throw me across the parking lot and then broke my sunglasses and threw them across the parking lot.’ 

Ziskin has since died from breast cancer and the pair never worked together again. 

Bill Murray allegedly threw an ashtray at What About Bob costar Richard Dreyfuss, 74, (left) after he complained about the former’s behavior, his son Ben, 35, revealed earlier this year. He allegedly complained about Murray threatened to throw producer Laura Ziskin across the parking lot and broke her glasses 

His son also revealed that everyone ‘walked off set’ and Disney had to hire ‘bodyguards to physically separate my dad and Bill Murray in-between takes’

It eventually turned physical in front of several costars, including Laraine Newman, who described it as a ‘very sad and painful and awful’ on What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2021.  

Murray reportedly got physical with director Harold Ramis on Groundhog Day. The director allegedly threw the actor against the wall during the dispute. Ramis’ daughter claimed Murray didn’t talk to the director for 20 years after the fight and that Ramis’ was ‘heartbroken.’ 

Murray also reportedly hurt The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou costar Anjelica Huston’s feelings after he didn’t invite her out to a dinner party during filming. 

‘The first week I was there [filming in Italy], we were all in this little hotel, and he invited the entire cast to go and have dinner, except me,’ she said in 2019. 

Aziz Ansari also faced sexual misconduct allegations in 2019 over an incident in 2018

Meanwhile Ansari also faced sexual misconduct allegations in 2019 over an incident in 2018.

A woman had claimed he ignored verbal and non-verbal cues she did not want to be physical with him at the end of a date they went on.

He said: ‘I’m sure some of you are curious how I feel about that whole situation. And it’s a tricky thing for me to answer ’cause I felt so many things in the last year or so.

‘There’s times I felt scared. There’s times I felt humiliated. There’s times I felt embarrassed.

‘And ultimately, I just felt terrible that this person felt this way. And after a year or so, I just hope it was a step forward.’

He continued: It moved things forward for me and made me think about a lot. I hope I’ve become a better person.

‘And I always think about a conversation I had with one of my friends where he was like, ”You know what, man? That whole thing made me think about every date I’ve ever been on”.

‘And I thought, ”Wow. Well, that’s pretty incredible. It’s made not just me, but other people be more thoughtful, and that’s a good thing”.’

He added: ‘And that’s how I feel about it…and I know this isn’t the most hilarious way to begin a comedy show.

‘But it’s important to me that you know how I feel about that whole thing before we share this night together.’

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