Bill Murray plays a bawdy, misanthropic war vet who befriends a lonely boy in his new film, St. Vincent.Atsushi Nishijima
How did Bill Murray spend Bill Murray Day? Most of it was in his hotel room, listening to a success of people coming in and out, telling him how humid it was outside: "It was sort of a weather report." Later, he went to see Kirsten Wiig's new film, Welcome to Me. After that, he made his way over to the TIFF Bell Lightbox, where after the screening of Ghostbusters, and the contestants in the Bill Murray costume contest paraded their outfits from Ghostbusters, Meatballs and What about Bob?, the man himself appeared on stage, in a checked blue-and-white short-sleeved shirt and red pants because, he said, "after Ghostbusters, I knew I would be rich and famous and could wear red clothes and not give a damn."
Bill Murray Day is a cross-promotion between the 30th anniversary Blu-Ray edition of Ghostbusters (also re-released theatrically) and Murray's latest role at TIFF, as a bawdy, misanthropic war vet who befriends a lonely boy in his new film, St. Vincent.
After the screening, there was a odd sense of circularity, that the haunted high-rise tower of Ghostbusters, "a huge super-conductive antenna that was designed and built expressly for the purpose of pulling in and concentrating spiritual turbulence," is a bookend to the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The building, built on a $22-million parcel of land bequeathed by the Toronto-born Ivan Reitman and his twin sisters (along with the Daniels Corporation) as a tribute to their refugee parents, who owned a car wash at King and John streets.
Reitman first met Murray as a member of the stage production The National Lampoon Show. Ghostbusters is very much a love letter to the Manhattan of the eighties ( "I love this town," declares Ernie Hudson before the final credits.) The Bell Lightbox is a pristine tribute to the Canadian town Reitman came from. He owns a condo in the tower, and recently added the restaurant Montecito, named after his film company, to Adelaide St. West. So, Bill Murray Day is also Ivan Reitman Day, though the director is happy to see his friend get the attention, as he said in an interview Friday.
"I thought it was a great choice," he mused. "Now he's getting the respect I always thought he deserved … And it's appropriate. His first movie Meatballs was conceived right here in Toronto and shot here. And he got his first acting nomination here – for best foreign actor, for Meatballs."
George C. Scott won for The Changeling. It just didn't matter, though Murray recalled he pretended to storm out in disgust.
The Q&A moderator at the Ghostbusters screening, Murray's friend Mitch Glazer (also the screenwriter on Scrooged), spoke of Murray's unusual openness to new experiences. Recently, when, while taking a cab in Oakland, Calif., Murray discovered the driver was a saxophone player who had his instrument in the car. Murray took the wheel while the cabbie played in the back.
"It's something I do consciously – when I'm conscious," quipped the actor about his now-famous penchant for popping in unexpected situations.
Early on in his work, he said, he learned that "the more relaxed you are, the better you are; the more fun you have, the better you are."
The final question of the afternoon came from a young woman who had come from Vancouver to see Murray in person. Her question was: "What's it like to be you?"
"That's a great question," said Murray, and proceeded to suggest the whole audience share the exercise: "This is a thing I like to do with myself when I get lost and feel funny. How much do you weigh? Just feel your weight in your body, if you can come back to the most personal identification: I am, this is me now … What's it like to be me? The only way you'll ever know what it's like to be you is to work your best, as often as you can, at being you, to practice being you, and remind yourself that that's where home is."
Editor's note: Ivan Reitman's restaurant, Montecito, is named after his film company and is located on Adelaide St. West. Incorrect information appeared in the original version of this article.