The True God
Lost in Translation is the best film ever made. Scarlett Johansson is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Bill Murray is God. Those are the three constants in an inconsistent universe.
Robert Schnakenberg’s new biography—”The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray: A Critical Appreciation of the World’s Finest Actor,” out in September—is basically scripture on this. Photos, stories, quotes, the whole arc. SNL through Ghostbusters through Groundhog Day and whatever else caught his eye. Murray’s been around for fifty years and never stopped being compelling, which is already basically supernatural.
The weird thing about him is that he never needed anything from anyone. He shows up when he wants, takes the roles that intrigue him, walks away when he doesn’t. You can’t sell him on anything because he’s not shopping. Most actors are solving some problem—proving something to themselves, building toward something, trying to be remembered right. Murray just seemed to know early that the only interesting choice was to stay curious and see what happened next. Not because it’s a philosophy. Just because that’s how you stay alive.
That’s what this book is really about. How you stay yourself when everyone else wants to turn you into product. Worth reading for that alone.