Bill Murray has long been a Hollywood legend, but in recent years he’s become something more – a myth, a folktale figure who goes through life simply being Bill Murray, and occasionally cropping up in the odd film here or there. His latest role comes in Jim Jarmusch’s off-kilter zombie comedy The Dead Don’t Die (not Murray’s first brush with the undead, as Zombieland viewers well know), where he plays Police Chief Cliff Robertson – who faces an undead rising alongside Adam Driver’s Officer Ronnie and Chloë Sevigny's Officer Morrison.
Speaking in the new issue of Empire, Jarmusch spoke about his love for Murray – with the pair having collaborated before on 2005’s Broken Flowers. “Bill is such a human being in the characters he embodies,” the filmmaker says. “And he can be so subtle, but it’s that humanness… I just love Bill Murray, as a person. And I love working with him. When he’s clowning around, he’s hilarious, but he’s also the most generous person in the world with other humans. On Broken Flowers I had to pull him back to the set, because he was helping elderly people put luggage in the trunk of their car.”
Read more about Jarmusch’s none-more-Jarmusch zombie flick in the Once Upon A Time In Hollywood* issue of *Empire – on sale now, and available to order online here. The Dead Don’t Die hits UK cinemas on 12 July.
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