Bill Murray addressed the allegations of inappropriate conduct against him that suspended production of a film based on Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal, Deadline reports.
Murray commented on the allegations in a CNBC interview during the annual shareholders meeting for Berkshire Hathaway, the Nebraska-based holding company. He told journalist Becky Quick that he and a woman working on the set of the film had a “difference of opinion.”
“I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way,” Murray said. “The company, the movie studio, wanted to do the right thing, so they wanted to check it all out, investigate it, and so they stopped the production. But as of now, we’re talking and we’re trying to make peace with each other.”
Searchlight Pictures suspended production on the film, which is written, produced, and directed by comedian Aziz Ansari, last month, citing an allegation of inappropriate behavior on the part of Murray. The company did not explain the nature of Murray’s alleged behavior.
In the CNBC interview, Murray did not identify the woman who lodged the complaint, but said that he and she “like each other’s work” and “like each other, I think.”
“You know, what I always thought was funny as a little kid isn’t necessarily the same as what’s funny now,” he said. “Things change and the times change, so it’s important for me to figure it out. And I think the most important thing is that it’s best for the other person. I thought about it, and if it’s not best for the other person, [it] doesn’t matter what happens for me.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
