Wes Anderson will keep working with Bill Murray in wake of misconduct claims: 'He's really part of my family'

Bill Murray might not appear in Wes Anderson's latest film, Asteroid City, but their working relationship is still going strong.

In a new IndieWire interview, the filmmaker said that he intends to keep working with Murray, a longtime collaborator, amid recent allegations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate on-set behavior leveled against the actor. Anderson added that he considers Murray to be "part of my family."

"My experience with Bill is so extensive," the director said. "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."

Last year, Searchlight Pictures suspended production on the film Being Mortal after an alleged incident involving Murray and another cast member. The movie — written, directed, and produced by Aziz Ansari — has yet to resume production. Murray addressed the allegations for the first time back in April, but did not elaborate what transpired.

George Pimentel/WireImage Bill Murray and Wes Anderson at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012

"I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn't taken that way," Murray told CNBC. "The company, the movie studio, wanted to do the right thing, so they wanted to check it all out, investigate it, and so they stopped the production."

According to a Puck report, Murray was alleged to have straddled and kissed (while masked due to COVID-19 protocols) a younger female production staffer on set. The woman was allegedly "horrified" at the incident and filed a complaint.

In the past year, fellow actors Geena Davis and Seth Green have also accused Murray of bad behavior on set. Davis said Murray harassed her while making the 1990 film Quick Change, and Green said Murray dropped him in a trash can backstage at Saturday Night Live when he was 9.

Murray is one of Anderson's most frequent cast members, having appeared in nine of his 12 feature films. The duo last worked together on the 2021 movie The French Dispatch, and Murray was originally intended to appear in Asteroid City as well.

"Bill was supposed to be in the movie," Anderson told IndieWire. "He was supposed to play the motel manager who Steve Carell plays, and Bill got COVID four days before he was supposed to start shooting. He was in Ireland and in the case of our movie, we had schedules of so many people that are all puzzled around. The people who Bill was supposed to play scenes with were going to be gone by the time he cleared the COVID protocols and stuff. And in fact, he was quite sick. So Bill missed his part and Steve Carell came in quite suddenly. He was great, I loved having him. I met him, he arrived, and we were immediately shooting."

Anderson reunited with Murray when the film wrapped.

"When Bill got better, he came to Spain [where Asteroid shot]," Anderson said. "We finished the movie, and Bill and I got in a car and drove to France. It was a great way to finish but it was the first time I hadn't had him in a movie in a long time."

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• Here's what you need to know about Asteroid City, courtesy of Wes Anderson