Bill Murray speaks out about ‘Being Mortal’ film shutdown, saying ‘I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way’

By Megan Thomas and Chris Boyette, CNN

Actor and comedian Bill Murray addressed the production shutdown of his latest film, “Being Mortal,” in the wake of reports of a complaint against him.

Fox Searchlight told the film crew in an email last month that the film was being shut down due to an unspecified complaint but didn’t confirm Murray was involved, Deadline first reported on April 20.

On Saturday, Murray was attending the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. The actor, who’s a shareholder, told CNBC that he had a “difference of opinion” with a woman on the set of “Being Mortal.” But Murray said he was optimistic that he and the woman, whom he didn’t name, could “make peace.”

“We had a difference of opinion; I had a difference of opinion with a woman I’m working with. I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way,” Murray said. “The company, the movie studio wanted to do the right thing. So, they wanted to check it all out and investigate it and so they stopped the production. But as of now we’re talking and we’re trying to make peace with each other.”

The nature of the complaint has not been made public, but Murray said he had been thinking a lot about what happened, and it has been “quite an education” for him, according to the interview he gave CNBC.

“You know what I always thought was funny as a little kid isn’t necessarily the same as what’s funny now. Things change and the times change, so it’s important for me to figure it out,” Murray said. “I think the most important thing is that it’s best for the other person. I thought about and that it’s not best for the other person, doesn’t matter what happens for me. And that gave me a great deal of comfort and relaxation because your brain doesn’t operate well when you’re in the unknown, when you’re thinking like, ‘well, how can I be so…how can I misperceive? How can I be so inaccurate and so insensitive,’ when you think you’re being sensitive to some sensibility that you’ve had for a long time.”

The actor also told CNBC he hopes to work out his differences with the woman and restart production of “Being Mortal.”

“What would make me the happiest would be to put my boots on and for both of us to go back into work and be able to trust each other and work at the work that we both spent a lot of time developing the skill of,” Murray said to CNBC. “And hopefully do something that’s good for more than just the two of us, but for a whole crew of people who are movie makers and the movie studio as well.”

The movie, featuring Bill Murray, Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer, and directed by Aziz Ansari, is based on Atul Gawande’s non-fiction book “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Ansari wrote the script and was also expected to play a role in the film.

Searchlight Pictures has not responded to multiple requests from CNN for comment.

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