Bill Murray Spills About ‘Ghostbusters,’ ‘Groundhog Day,’ and ‘Tootsie’ Productions in First Appearance on ‘The View’

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For the first time in The View history, legendary comic actor Bill Murray visited the storied panel to discuss his lengthy career, COVID, and a new orchestral project. Yes, you read that right: in all 25 years of the famous ABC talk show, Murray has never — not once! — visited the show to chat with the ladies. Say what? So, naturally, when he dropped by virtually today, the co-hosts had quite a bit to catch up on.

The first matter of business was Murray’s noteworthy absence from The View‘s long list of guests. Why hadn’t Murray visited yet?

“I think you guys wake up too early,” the actor explained with a yawn. “It’s too early.”

With that, it was time to get into business. Joy Behar asked the first question, bringing up Groundhog Day (which released 29 years ago!) in relation to the current cycle of politics, COVID scares, and dreary winter days.

“Well, some of the time I think I’m doing very well, like all of us. And sometimes, we can quietly whisper that there’s something good about COVID,” Murray replied, adding some much-needed Groundhog Day insight. “I think it’s given a lot of us a chance to spend some time with ourselves and to acknowledge what we don’t do very well and what we need to work on. But sometimes it’s lonely. It’s definitely lonely.”

The View busted out their Ghostbusters history next, mentioning recent guest McKenna Grace in relation to the reboot film that released last year. Murray provided some harrowing behind-the-scenes details about filming Ghostbusters in addition.

“Well, physically, that pack is very heavy. And for some reason, the script ends throwing us down on the ground all the time, and we have to get up. You know, it’s not so much the getting down — it’s the getting back up that kills you,” Murray said. “If you had to do your show from the floor, you girls would be miserable! You’d be just miserable.”

Then the conversation bounced back to Behar again, clearly a diehard Murray fan, who asked him about his favorite project to film. After mentioning What About Bob? and Tootsie, Murray opened up about working with some of the most noteworthy actors and directors of his time.

“Well, that’s a very good movie to talk about, Tootsie,” Murray responded. “Because the director, Sydney Pollack, he’s gone now, and Dustin Hoffman was really, really generous as an actor, to me. We had a wonderful relationship.”

Murray continued, explaining the improvisational role he played in filming Tootsie: “Every scene we did together, we just made up right then and there,” he said. “My character didn’t really exist in the screenplay, it was just a character that was suggested by Elaine May as somebody who would help the audience point of view. Every time we got to work, we just got to do whatever we thought was funny. Because Dustin and Sydney had this crazy relationship where Dustin would be very, very demanding.”

The actor joked about how fun it was to be a “fly on the wall” watching Hoffman and Pollack butt heads over certain scenes, watching “two heavyweight” actors go at it. As for What About Bob? — it was Murray’s turn to get a little feisty.

“What About Bob? was really really fun because I got to torture Dreyfuss,” Murray quipped. “That was my job, I got to torture Dreyfuss.”

Looks like a Bill Murray movie marathon is in The View‘s future!

The View airs weekdays on ABC at 11/10c.

Where to watch The View

Bill Murray naps with young diner at Charleston’s Fast and French

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Bill Murray and Jan Vogler shared details on how their friendship started. They talked about how they came up with the idea to go on a concert tour together around the world, and shared details about what it was like to go on tour together. They also talked about the concert documentary they made, called “New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization.”

The film hits theaters Feb. 2.

This segment aired on the KTLA 5 Morning News on Jan. 18, 2022.

Video Bill Murray looks back at ‘Groundhog Day’ 29 years later

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Bill Murray looks back at ‘Groundhog Day’ 29 years later On “The View,” the comedian and actor reflects on his past projects, including the reboot of “Ghostbusters,” and explains why he doesn’t think about his legacy.

Bill Murray trends for something he never even said

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Actor Bill Murray is a very quotable person, but people on the internet are getting so gung-ho about posting his idioms, the actor began trending on Twitter Monday for a quote he never even said.

The offending quote in questions is, “So, if we lie to the government, it’s a felony. But if they lie to us, it’s politics.” It’s a sentiment shared by many, sure, but not one that’s ever been uttered by the legendary comic star.

“So, if we lie to the government it’s a felony, but if they lie to us it’s politics.”

– Bill Murray#BillMurray — Philosophy Tweet⚡️ (@philosophytweet) January 17, 2022

According to Reuters, the Ghostbusters actor never actually said this.

Social media users are sharing a quote about the U.S. government lying to citizens but wrongly attributed it to American actor Bill Murray. Full story: https://t.co/PaVgWKCEca — Reuters Fact Check (@ReutersFacts) January 17, 2022

The confusion seems to stem from a now-suspended Bill Murray parody Twitter account whose description reads, “I AM NOT BILL MURRAY. This is a parody account. This account is not in any way affiliated with the actor Bill Murray.”

Despite their own declaration of being a parody account, the handle of the Twitter account was simply @BillMurray, so it’s no wonder the telephone game that is the internet Zeitgeist has altered our collective memory of the quote. The parody account usage of the quote, tweeted on Oct. 18, 2013, has been archived here.

According to Reuters, iterations of the quote have been circulating since 1987, with another early example being from 2010.

In addition, the quote was also used by a Twitter user in 2012. Unlike those previous examples of the quote’s origin, the tweet by Twitter user @mrbankssy was in the exact same wording as the quote that is frequently wrongly attributed to Murray.

So, if we lie to the government, it’s a felony. But if they lie to us its politics — Mike Banks (@mrbankssy) October 4, 2012

In its article, the publication said they “found no evidence that Murray ever said this” and that a Google search of the quote and Murray’s name “brings up no credible sources.” The report went on to say they contacted a representative for Murray and are awaiting a response, but that could take a while seeing as he doesn’t have an agent or a cellphone.