Bill Murray actually did sort of play a role in ‘Asteroid City’

It turns out Bill Murray is part of Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City.” Sort of.

As revealed by The New Yorker on Thursday, Murray actually shot promo material for Anderson’s latest feature, playing an actor starring as a fictional industrial executive in a role that was cut out of the finished production within the actual production.

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Confused? “Asteroid City” “has a framing device, in which a troupe of actors is performing a play that inexplicably becomes the movie we’re watching,” as The New Yorker explained. So with that in mind, Murray plays an actor named Tab Whitney who was cast in the play-within-the-movie as Jock Larkings, the head of the Larkings Corporation, an organization that factors into the story. (Bob Balaban plays a Larkings executive in the actual film.) But Whitney’s part was cut from the finished product, much like Murray’s role. The “Rushmore” star, who has appeared in nine Anderson films, contracted the coronavirus just before he was set to shoot his scenes.

“Normally, I don’t think it’s such a nice idea to tell everyone the person who didn’t end up in the movie,” Anderson said to The New Yorker. “But Bill got covid in Ireland, and it was four days before he was supposed to work.” The diagnosis forced Anderson to recast the part earmarked for Murray and Steve Carell stepped in to work on the project in Murray’s place.

Murray’s departure from “Asteroid City” was revealed in July of last year and it was reported at the time that coronavirus was the cause. But some speculated that Murray had been booted from the project due to an allegation of misconduct made against him during the production of the Aziz Ansari film “Being Mortal.” Murray later addressed the allegations in an interview with CNBC and called the incident a “difference of opinion” with a female crewmember.

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

“Being Mortal” never resumed production. In October of last year, Puck reported Murray had settled with the crewmember.

Back to “Asteroid City.” Speaking to The New Yorker, Anderson said, “I kept trying to think of something for him, but you can’t really just add a new character into the movie.” It wasn’t until late in the production that the director came up with the conceit that Murray would play an actor cut from the production. Anderson, Murray, and star Jason Schwartzman then got together after production wrapped to shoot what amounted to a promo for “Asteroid City.”

“We made this very peculiar thing that is just a spontaneous creation before the set was going to be struck down. It was the last thing we did. And then we put all our things in the golf cart and drove off into the sunset,” Anderson said.

Watch the three-minute sequence over at the New Yorker website. For fans of Anderson, it’s a must-see.

“Asteroid City” is in theaters now and will be available on VOD later in July.

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