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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
MURRAY’S MINTS NUGGETS OF WISDOM FROM THE WORLD’S FUNNIEST MAN HERE HAVE BEEN cameos, there have been supporting roles, and there have been lead roles in obeat fare like St. Vincent. But believe it or not, it’s been over a decade since Bill Murray toplined an out-and-out comedy. That was Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, and if that’s still a little too arch for you, then it’s been an astonishing 19 years since The Man Who Knew Too Little. That’s a long time for the funniest man in the world not to be plying his trade. But Murray the mirth-maker is back this month in Barry Levinson’s Rock The Kasbah, in which he plays a failed rock promoter on an eventful tour of Afghanistan. With Afghanistan unavailable, Empire went to the movie’s set in Marrakech, where we saw first-hand the full efects of the Murricane. It’s not every day you interview a man who’s straddling an inflatable alligator in a swimming pool, but then, it’s not every day you interview Bill Murray. “Well, are you coming in?” he asks, splashing Empire gently. Well, are you?
He’s Pleased About His Comedy Comeback “I missed doing it. I think if you can be funny you should be funny. But there just aren’t that many scripts that are funny. I just do what I like, there’s no plan. I thought this movie was going to be a bit more serious, but it’s going to be easily, insanely funny. I had no idea how many comic opportunities the script had. We’re just able to do crazy stuf.”
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APRIL 2016