A grad student who works in my office told me Wednesday that when she was younger (like 10) and was in Punxsutawney for Groundhog’s day (the year after the movie was out) she was with her dad in town and saw Bill Murray walking through the park. She was too scared to ask but her dad got her an autograph and Mr. Murray was very nice she said. So at least he’s nice to kids.
Whatever else you think about Chevy Chase, that video he did with Paul Simon was freaking hilarious.
Because when he was offered the lead in the movie made from the book “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” he did not say “Are you out of your fucking minds?” God, he ruined that movie.
There was an article about Murray in Esquire a couple of months back. He came across as a nice guy, let the Teamsters on the set watch ball games in his trailer and so forth. Maybe he saves his assholery for directors.
The article also mentioned that he doesn’t have an agent or a publicist anymore. Scripts just find their way to him. I’m gathering that the same doesn’t happen for Chevy.
I was thinking of the same article when I started reading this thread- I got the impression that he may finally be realizing his responsibility for the dislike & mediocre career, and is developing some humility. Also, IIRC doesn’t Larraine Newman indicate they still are on friendly terms in the article?
I agree with LateComer: That Paul Simon video with Chevy Chase was fantastic.
Interesting that Bill Murray may have something of a similar reputation within the industry as Chase, as indicated above. I find both of those men very funny onscreen. I guess I just don’t keep up with industry news behind-the-scenes. Maybe I should read People magazine more often.
Beats me how Chevy Chase seems to be reviled, while John Belushi is still lionized. Belushi has the advantage of being dead, but Chase has the better body of work. And he’s still our greatest president.
Here is a link to the EW article. You have to log in to read the whole thing, but it is worth it. GREAT article.
http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,676221_1|6703||0_0_,00.html
Ironically, the writer bashes Christmas Vacation and this drew one of the largest outpouring of letters by EW. According to the letter column a few weeks later, the editor said he had the writer re-watch it who admitted it was better than he had remembered.
I’ve read several stories (most specfically in the SNL tell all that came out last year) about what a jerk he is. And IMO there is a big difference between a talented jackass and a no talent ass clown.
In the SNL book, I thought it was especially insightful that he caused problems when he returned to host fairly recently. Maybe when the show was getting off the ground you could excuse bad behavior on a combination of ego and coke. But these days he doesn’t have much to support that size of an ego, save for his delusions. Apparently in writing meetings (at this point Tina Fey was on the staff) he would just berate people for their allegedly bad jokes and call the women (that is just meeting for the first time) disparaging names. Just an ass for the sake of being an ass.
I saw him recently on Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown (or whatever its called) and he was relatively under control. He made one bad joke early on about having an appointment for his abortion that kind of tanked. After that he was able to rein it in a bit.
FWIW, I’ve heard several stories about people meeting Bill Murray and really enjoying the experience. I bet he’s just very passionate about the projects he chooses and has strong opinions about them.
?
What’s wrong with Toys?
EVERYTHING!
Heh. I suppose I walked into that one, but I rather enjoyed the movie.
::shrug:: different strokes, I suppose…
My perception is probably clouded because I thought the movie should have been much better than it was.
When I read that SNL book there were quotes along the lines of how John could be a complete dick to people and extremely selfish, but the quotes usually ended like, “…but he was a great guy!”
If John Belushi had lived, he would have fizzled out long ago and would be doing commentary on VH1. Same thing with Andy Kaufman, but that’s for another thread.
I think the premise for this thread is basically wrong. Why does everyone hate Chevy Chase? Heck, nearly anyone below the age of 20 has barely heard of Chevy Chase. He was a SNL cast member before they were born. Anyone under 30 would know him mostly as an actor in some old movies that they once watched on TV, but they would probably never have seen him in a movie in a movie theater. They might recognize him as another failed talk show host, but only if they were one of the few people who happened to catch the program when it was on. I see no evidence that older people care that much about him either.
The number of people who barely know who Chevy Chase is is much larger than the number who actually have an opinion about him.
There are only two “s”'s in Silver Spring.
Damn. Did I leave the gate open again?
Ah, but there are 4 "s"s in braaainssss.
I read the whole first page wondering why nobody was mentioning “Community”.:smack:
Yes, he has really bounced back playing the megalomaniacal villain on Community, and that is worth continuing this thread. What a stupid / worthless bump though.
And from someone who has been around long enough to know better.