Nearly six months ago, film fans were shocked to learn that production on Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut, “Being Mortal,” was shut down due to allegations of misconduct against Bill Murray. Shortly after the news broke, Murray came out and took responsibility for what he described as a joke that he thought was funny, but “it wasn’t taken that way.” Since then, production has yet to restart on the film, and people have been wondering when it might start up again. Well, according to a new report from Puck, not only is the film itself in trouble, but the allegations against Murray are a lot worse than many were suspecting.
The new Puck report claims that a settlement was made with a young woman who worked on the set of “Being Mortal” after she was sexually assaulted by Bill Murray. With the sensitivity of the allegations, here’s exactly what was written in the Puck report:
This much younger woman, Murray felt, had been flirting with him. So at one moment when the two were in close proximity near a bed that was part of the production, Murray started kissing her body and straddling her. It was perhaps an unclear bit of physical comedy, but one that was unannounced. She couldn’t move because he outweighed her, she alleged. Then, he kissed her on the mouth, although when he did so, both Murray and the woman were wearing masks, owing to Covid protocols.
As you can see, this situation goes quite a bit beyond what Murray originally described, which was simply an inappropriate joke.
Since this settlement, Searchlight Pictures (which is under the Disney umbrella) is no longer involved with the making of the film and it’s unclear what will happen to “Being Mortal.” Most recently, back in June, it was revealed that Ansari’s film was being shopped around during Cannes, looking for a potential studio partner. However, no deals have been reported.
This news also comes on the heels of an interview with Geena Davis, where the actor says Murray harassed her on the set of “Quick Change.” She alleges that Murray yelled at her for being late in front of the cast and crew. “That was bad,” Davis told The Times. “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.”
All of it compounded is not good look for the actor. As for what will happen to Murray and his career moving forward, the settlement kinda ends the story from a legal perspective. That said, we’ll just have to wait and see how his career is affected and if other studios will be willing to take a chance on the iconic comedic actor.