Finding Bill Murray, we always assume, must be like tracking down the A-Team in their original ‘80s telly incarnation. If no-one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire Bill Murray. We reckon he’d be lacking if asked to make a turnip-firing tank after being locked in a garage for a few hours, but he certainly brings acting skills to the table and is now in talks to star in St Vincent De Van Nuys.
Ted Melfi has written and will direct this one, which follows the coming-of-age story of a 12-year old boy. Depressed after his parents get divorced, our hero forms an unlikely friendship with the misanthropic retiree next door, whose life largely centres around boozing, gambling and prostitutes. The ideal role model! Naturally, they both learn a little something.
Melfi’s script hit the Black List in 2011, and for a while Jack Nicholson has been the man considered as the likely choice for the drunken father figure.
Murray, who last showed up to do his usual Wes Anderson duty for Moonrise Kingdom, will next be seen as President Roosevelt in Hyde Park On Hudson and has finished work on weird comedy** A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III.**