Bill Murray film ‘Being Mortal’ suspended on charges: reports
Following allegations of inappropriate behavior against actor Bill Murray on the set of “Being Mortal,” Searchlight Pictures has halted production on the Aziz Ansari-directed film, according to reports.
According to reports from multiple outlets, including The New York Times and Variety, the film studio sent a letter to the cast team on Wednesday stating that the suspension took place due to a complaint, but is not go into details.
“Late last week, we were made aware of a complaint and immediately investigated it,” the letter read, according to The New York Times and Variety. “We are truly grateful for all you have invested in this project.”
The outlets report that the complaint involves inappropriate behavior against the comedian.
A Searchlight Pictures representative confirmed to USA TODAY that production on the film has been halted at this time, but no further information has been provided. USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Murray and Ansari for comment and further details.
“Being Mortal” also stars Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer, and Ansari, who is also the film’s writer and director, according to IMDb. The film is based on “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” a 2014 non-fiction book about end-of-life care written by surgeon Atul Gawande.
In a July 2021 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lucy Liu opened up about working with Murray on the 2001 film ‘Charlie’s Angels’, alleging the comedian started ‘throwing insults at her’ while filming a scene. .
“Some of the comments were inexcusable and unacceptable, and I wasn’t just going to sit there and take it,” she said. “So, yeah, I stood up for myself and I don’t regret it. Because no matter how on the totem pole you are or where you’re from, there’s no need to condescend or put others down. And I wouldn’t step down, nor should I have.”
Ansari took a break from Hollywood after being accused of sexual misconduct by a former date in a January 2018 Babe.net story. In the Babe story, the accuser, who was identified by a alias, said the two were at his apartment on a date where he stripped her naked and forced her to perform oral sex.
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“I know I was physically giving off signals that I didn’t care about. I don’t think it was noticed at all, or if it was, it was ignored,” she wrote.
At the time, Ansari, who voiced his support for the #MeToo movement, said in a statement that he believed the sexual activity was consensual, but “(the) next day I got a text from her saying that although “it may have seemed okay” on reflection she felt uneasy. It’s true that everything seemed okay to me so when I heard that this was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. …I took her words to heart.”
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