Geena Davis has opened up about how Billy Murray terrorized her on the set of Quick Change. Filmed in 1990, Quick Change was directed by Murray, who also starred in the film alongside Davis. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who did largely praise the film as being some of Murray's best acting work to date. Despite this, however, Quick Change bombed at the box office, earing $15.3 million worldwide against the film's budget of $17 million.
For several years, many actors and crew members have come forward to share horror stories about Murray's conduct on film sets. Richard Dreyfuss has called Murray a "drunken bully," while Ghostbusters co-star Harold Ramis has called him "irrationally mean." In 1978, Murray and SNL co-star Chevy Chase got into a bitter argument, which ended in a full-blown fistfight. In July 2021, it was reported that Lucy Liu had a falling out with Murray on the set of Charlie's Angels, after a troubling altercation between the two had taken place. Most recently, Murray was working on the film Being Mortal in April of this year, which was Parks and Recreation star Aziz Ansari's directorial debut. On April 21, Being Mortal halted production after a complaint was made against Murray for inappropriate behavior. Murray admitted his part in the incident, saying he "did something [he] thought was funny and it wasn't taken that way." The film has not resumed production.
In her new memoir "Dying of Politeness" (via The Times), Davis recalls being terrorized by Murray while filming Quick Change. Davis writes that she was initially introduced to Murray in a hotel suite, where he insisted on using a massage device called The Thumper on her, despite Davis vehemently protesting. She also recalls a time when Murray screamed at her in front of hundreds of people for being late to set, despite Davis only being late because she was waiting for her wardrobe. Read Davis' statement to The Times below:
That was bad. 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…
Bill Murray's Multiple Controversies Explained
Though Murray's controversies have begun to come to light in recent years, accusations against the actor of inappropriate conduct date back to the 1970s. Not only does Murray have a history of allegedly verbally abusing co-workers, but there have been several accusations of physical violence as well. Charlie's Angels director McG claimed that Murray head-butted him on the set of the film, nearly breaking his nose. What About Bob? producer Laura Ziskin said Murray broke her sunglasses by throwing them across the parking lot, and threatened to do the same to her.
Murray is known for playing comedic, beloved characters throughout his career - and perhaps that is why he was able to get away with so much inappropriate behavior over the years. After the complaint against him on Being Mortal, Murray expressed his willingness to change his attitude, saying, "I think it's a sad dog that can't learn anymore. I don't want to be that sad dog and I have no intention of it." However, with more than 40 years of allegations of inappropriate behavior, only time will tell whether Murray has truly changed - because, according to Davis, he still hadn't learned his lesson by 1990's Quick Change.
Source: The Times