After Charlie's Angels, nothing Bill Murray agrees to appear in should surprise me:
Bill Murray is in negotiations to reprise his role as the voice of Garfield in "Garfield 2," which is slated for a summer 2006 release. Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt have signed on to return to the sequel to 20th Century Fox's 2004 hit. Hewitt's role, however, will be greatly reduced because she is filming the upcoming CBS series "Ghost Whisperer."
Lucy Davis, best known for her role on the U.K. version of "The Office," and Scottish comic Billy Connolly ("The Last Samurai") also are entering the fat cat's lair. Davis will play animal lover Abby Westminster, a fashionable professional who has been brought in to try and trap Lord Dargis (Connelly) into revealing his evil plans. Tim Hill will direct.
$75 million domestic box office (minus the $50 million budget) euquals sequel, no matter how scathing the reviews might have been.
I was all prepared to get up in arms at Murray pissing away his artistic integrity, again, for a paycheck, But why bother? The guy's been going back and forth between "serious" films and paycheck movies ever since Ed Wood, at least. Hell, if I was offered $10 million to sit in a sound booth in my pajamas and provide the voice for a stupid cat, I'd be down there so fast they'd barely have time to revoke my Sundance press credentials.
Besides that, I like Murray (even if I may be one of a half dozen human beings who didn't like Lost in Translation). So I don't begrudge him his ludicrously excessive paycheck the same way I do, say, Ben Stiller.
Yeah, I'm another one who didn't like LiT. It was different, and that's cool. But I still didn't like it.
The biggest difference between Stiller and Murray is that at least Murray has depth of talent. At this stage in his career, not that he's above reproach, but he's pretty much due his respect no matter what kind of crap he does for a pay check from time to time.
Who among us hasn't dealt in a little ivory, worked for a robber baron oil company, or appeared in a terrible movie just for the paycheck. Yeah, I don't see a whole lot of hands shooting up out there.
"...robber baron oil company...
That's pretty funny.
Who could've predicted that goofball Murray could develop into a restrained and nuanced performer? I'll forgive him a few paycheck-driven decisions if he just keeps working with Wes Anderson. By the way, LiT is one of my favorite movies, and for that I feel no shame.
Have you seen Broken Flowers yet? What say ye?
P.S. I loved him in L.T., but I also loved him in Meatballs. I don't know. Bill has a lovable, cuddly serial killer quality about him that's hard to resist.
Meeeowwww!
...and I'd be willing to do it for airfare and pizza.