Credit: Far Out / Alamy
Thu 30 July 2026 20:45, UK
Convincing Bill Murray to star in any movie is difficult enough, and things become exponentially harder when the person directing that movie is someone he hasn’t liked for a long time.
The man upstairs is said to love a trier, though, so it was at least admirable for a former friend-turned-enemy to extend an olive branch in Murray’s direction, in the hopes that bygones could be bygones and they could put the bitterness behind them to reunite for the first time in over a decade.
If you know anything about the man they call the ‘Murricane’, it’s that he knows how to hold a grudge. Get on his bad side, and it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever be welcomed back into his good graces, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he couldn’t have been less interested in letting the water pass under the bridge.
Once upon a time, Murray and Harold Ramis were one of Hollywood comedy’s most fruitful partnerships. They’d collaborated on Caddyshack, Stripes, and Ghostbusters, three of the most popular comedies of the 1980s, but their first team-up of the following decade would be their last, with Groundhog Day driving a wedge between them that would last until the latter was on his deathbed.
The filmmaker always harboured hope that he could reconcile with his old friend and godfather to his daughter, and when he signed on to direct 2005’s The Ice Harvest, he had an idea. With John Cusack already attached to the leading role of Charlie Arglist, there was an opening for a recognisable actor to take on the part of Pete Van Heuten.
Ramis revealed that “Cusack likes the names Oliver Platt, Stanley Tucci, and John C Reilly,” with Platt ultimately getting the nod. However, he wanted to throw out a Hail Mary. “But I’d like to take one shot at Bill Murray,” he explained. “He’d be great as Pete.” It was a long shot, but since he’d “had a dream that Bill was going to be in The Ice Harvest,” he may as well have tried to make it a reality.
The biggest and most obvious question was whether or not he’d even entertain the idea. Not only is the Academy Award nominee fairly selective about the roles he chooses to play, but this was a Harold Ramis picture, and the two hadn’t been on speaking terms since they went their separate ways when Groundhog Day had wrapped in late 1992.
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
Since he had no idea how to get in contact with Murray, which is the norm, he reached out to the Saturday Night Live veteran’s brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, asking him to ask his sibling if he’d be interested in playing a part in The Ice Harvest. Presumably, not to Ramis’ shock, he said no.
That wasn’t even what stung the most, either; Ramis asked if Murray had said anything else other than rejecting the overtures, perhaps even mentioning his personal connection with the director or their issues, only to be told that he hadn’t mentioned Ramis’ name at all. It was a firm no, and that was the end of the conversation.
