9. Bill Murray Signs On For Garfield - Thought It Was A Coen Brothers Movie
Even if you're only vaguely familiar with the towering comedic legend that is Bill Murray, you'll probably also know that he's notoriously picky with his roles (which basically means that he only does Wes Anderson flicks or movies that have him sitting looking depressed on the DVD cover). But take a quick glance at his esteemed filmography and you might be shocked to see the live-action version of
Garfield sitting admist classics like
Rushmore and
Lost InTranslation. That's right. The bland and unforgettable movie version of the popular comic strip character. So... what the hell, right? Well, notoriously picky Bill Murray might be, but he's certainly not thorough. According to Murray himself, he signed on to voice Garfield in his live-action feature film debut because (ahem)
he thought it was a Coen Brothers movie. Seriously. That's why he did it. He thought he was working with the acclaimed directors of
Fargo and
The Big Lebowski. Don't believe us? Here's what Murray said in an interview with GQ in the aftermath:
"I went out to LA to record my lines. And usually when you're looping a movie, if it takes two days, that's a lot. I don't know if I should even tell this story, because it's kind of mean. What the hell? It's interesting. So I worked all day and kept going, 'That's the line? Well, I can't say that'. And you sit there and go, 'What can I say that will make this funny? And make it make sense?' And I worked. I was exhausted, soaked with sweat, and the lines got worse and worse. And I said, 'OK, you better show me the whole rest of the movie, so we can see what we're dealing with'. "So I sat down and watched the whole thing, and I kept saying, 'Who the hell cut this thing? Who did this? What the was Coen thinking?' And then they explained it to me: it wasn't written by that Joel Coen."
And it certainly wasn't, nor did it have anything to do with the Coen siblings in any way, shape or form. Instead the movie was written by the similarly-named Joel Cohen, who - amongst other "comedy gems" - created
Daddy Day Camp. Still, all that doesn't quite explain why Bill Murray signed on for the sequel,
Garfield: A Tale Of Two Kitties. Presumably a love for Charles Dickens got the better of him.