Bill Murrayopened up about a wide range of topics including his early years at Saturday Night Liveand his relationships with women during a recent interview with Howard Stern on the DJsSiriusXM programThe Howard Stern Show. But in the most intriguing conversational detour, the comic actor commented on whyhe passedon a number of acclaimed film roles including lawyer Joe Miller (a part secured by Denzel Washington) in Jonathan Demmes Oscar-decorated 1993 drama, Philadelphia, and Tom Hanks iconic title role in Robert Zemeckis 1994 epic,Forrest Gump.
Murrays been rumored to haverejected some surprisingly high-profile rolesover the decades.But in the Stern conversation, available to stream above, the actorshed some more light on two of the biggest jaw-droppers. The actor is cagey at first withthe details, but he notesthat Stern is warm with that one in reference to Philadelphia, which he claims to have watched about an hour ago.It was on the back burner, he says. I would have liked to have done that one.
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As forGump, Murray says he did have conversations about the role. I think I had the original book and all that sort of stuff, he says, though he admits hes somehow managed to never see the movie.
Elsewhere, Murray talks about his friendships with Chevy Chase, David Letterman and SNLbossLorne Michaels. During a reflection about his seminal stint on the sketch series, the conversation drifts toward the shows recent seasons with Murray revealing his underdog pick as the greatest cast member ever.
I think Bill Haderprobably did the best work anyone ever did on that show, he says. I think his attack on it it took him a little while to get going, but when he got rolling, it was extraordinary. That group that he was in with Kristen Wiig. . . that group really had what that first group had. They had writing ability. And they were more actors than stand-up comedians.