- News
-
- Sport
-
- Entertainment
-
- Advice
-
- Roots
-
Make a comment
Larger Text
Print
E-mailMurray's Ember Shines Bright
From memorable performances in films like Rushmore, Groundhog Day and Lost in Translation, Bill Murray has been a Hollywood A-Lister for decades. He talks to CAHIR O'DOHERTY about his new Belfast-made film, City of Ember, produced by Tom Hanks and also starring rising young Irish star Saoirse Ronan and Tim Robbins.
BRIMMING with adventure and driven by the timely message that a little hope and courage can change your life, City of Ember is the first Belfast-made big budget blockbuster to ever hit the screens (it opens nationwide this Friday). Adapted from the famous children's book of the same name by Jeanne DuPrau, the new action flick for kids features a pot bellied Bill Murray, 58, in the signature role of the mayor of Ember, the strange underground city where he lords it over the ordinary citizens without a care.
It's a terrific villain's part for Murray, playing the bloated and completely selfish Mayor Cole, the first citizen of a bizarre world where no one ever dreams of questioning his authority. And, in fact, it was the grotesque aspects of the character that first interested him in the role.
"It was the chance to work with screenwriter Caroline Thompson that got me interested in the project," Murray tells the Irish Voice during an interview at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York last week.
"She wrote Edward Scissorhands and from the first time I met her, she's always been someone who interested me. I didn't know the book but my kids did, and they were stunned when I told them I was playing Mayor Cole."
Although over the years Murray has gained a reputation for occasionally being awkward with other actors and difficult in interviews - ominously, he arrived late for this one - in person it turns out that he is funny and thoughtful.
If his reputation precedes him, today it seems more than a little unfair. Talking with him, it's easy to see he has a low threshold for boredom, and if you can't keep him interested that could easily tilt over into mischief. The now famous dust up that he had with Lucy Liu on the set of Charlie's Angles probably was, you realize, due to the poor script rather than Murray's supposed temperament.
Related Items
- Bono visits Kenya to promote “brand Africa”...
- 'American Idol' Siobhan Magnus sparks revival...
- The worst Irish accents in Hollywood movies...
- Jedward back in business with new record...
- 10 Irish songs to avoid this Saint Patrick’s...
- Top 10 Irish songs for Saint Patrick's Day...
- Kathy Griffin to Conan O’Brien: I’m pregnant...
- 'American Idol' Siobhan Magnus and her Irish...
- Bono and family came under fire in Jamaica...
- A real Irish send-off for Frank McCourt ...
