10 Actors Who Visibly Hated These Movie Roles
6. Bill Murray - Scrooged
Now, it's fair to say that Bill Murray has built his brand on playing thoroughly disagreeable characters, though what separates a miserable character from a miserable performance is the context in-between.
Ghostbusters' Peter Venkman and Groundhog Day's Phil Connors may be a**holes, but the human being underneath is always there.
The same can't quite be said for Murray's performance in 1988's Christmas comedy Scrooged, a perfectly enjoyable film albeit one where Murray doesn't seem to be having much fun at all. Roger Ebert perhaps put it best in his one-star review of the film:
"[Frank] Cross is a thoroughly miserable wretch, played by Murray in a thoroughly miserable mood. What seems to be missing are the lightness and good cheer that lurk beneath the surface of most Murray performances. He’s often gruff in his movies, but in a way that lets you know he’s just kidding. This time, he doesn’t seem to be kidding. Murray’s ill humor affects the chemistry of scene after scene, introducing a kind of undertow. When he shouts at people, he doesn’t add a little spin of self-mocking exaggeration, so that we know to laugh. He seems to be really shouting. And the other actors look as if they really feel shouted at."
If the acerbic nature of Murray's performance seems to point to an actor suffering for our entertainment, he confirmed as much when he caught up with Ebert a few years later to confront him about his review of the movie.
Ebert asked if there were on-set disagreements with director Richard Donner, and Murray replied, "Only a few. Every single minute of the day. That could have been a really, really great movie. The script was so good. There's maybe one take in the final cut movie that is mine. We made it so fast, it was like doing a movie live. He kept telling me to do things louder, louder, louder. I think he was deaf." Ouch.
Unlike most of the movies on this list, Scrooged is actually pretty entertaining, regardless of the fact that Murray himself looks like he actually wants to murder someone - presumably Donner - for real throughout.