Keke Palmer wants ‘Being Mortal’ salvaged after Bill Murray complaint: ‘What we got is gold’
Keke Palmer is keeping quiet on the Bill Murray complaint that brought the production of “Being Mortal” to a halt — but she’s loud and clear that she wants to see the Aziz Ansari led film completed one way or another.
“If somebody could figure it out, it would be Aziz,” she said in an interview with Variety during the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles Saturday. “Obviously, we got cut short at a certain point but I will say that I am pretty devastated. It’s an amazing film. If there is some way to be able to complete, salvage it, I would want to do that.”
Palmer added that they only had about a month left of filming, so completing the movie might require Ansari “to do a major rewrite.”
“But I know what we got is gold,” she said, noting that Ansari is “incredible” and that she wants to see him to have his directorial debut.
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‘Being Mortal’ stops filming after Bill Murray complaint
Earlier this year, Searchlight Pictures suspended the filming of “Being Mortal,” which stars Palmer, Ansari and Seth Rogen, following allegations of inappropriate behavior on set against Murray.
According to reports from multiple outlets at the time, including The New York Times and Variety, the film studio issued a letter to cast and crew on April 20 saying the suspension occurred because of a complaint, but did not go into further details.
Bill Murray film suspends production over inappropriate behavior allegations, reports say
Ansari is the film’s writer and director, according to IMDb. The movie is based on “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” a 2014 non-fiction book about end-of-life care written by surgeon Atul Gawande.
Ansari took a break from Hollywood after he was accused of sexual misconduct by a former date in a Babe.net story from January 2018. In the Babe story, the accuser, who was identified by a pseudonym, said the two were at his apartment on a date when he undressed her and pressured her into oral sex. Ansari said in a statement at the time that he thought the sexual activity was consensual. He returned to the spotlight in 2019 with Netflix comedy special, “Aziz Ansari Right Now” and followed up with another Netflix special “Nightclub Comedian” in 2022.
Seth Green claims Bill Murray dropped him in a trash can on ‘SNL’ set
Palmer’s comments over the weekend come amid growing complaints surrounding Murray’s conduct on set.
During an episode of YouTube show “Good Mythical Morning” last week, Seth Green shared a run-in he had with Murray as a young actor on “Saturday Night Live,” claiming Murray held him by the ankles and dropped in a trash can.
Geena Davis also alleges she suffered harassment while working with Bill Murray on the 1990 film “Quick Change.” In her memoir “Dying of Politeness,” released Oct. 11, she wrote that the comedian pressured her into letting him give her a massage in a hotel suite during her meeting for her role. Another day, Murray screamed at her in front of more than 300 people on set while she waited for wardrobe.
“I was shaking all over, dying from shame,” Davis wrote, adding Murray intended “to make sure I knew my place.”
Actress Lucy Liu previously opened up about working with Murray on the 2001 film “Charlie’s Angels,” alleging the comedian started to “hurl insults” at her while filming a scene.
“Some of the language was inexcusable and unacceptable, and I was not going to just sit there and take it,” she said in a July 2021 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “So, yes, I stood up for myself, and I don’t regret it. Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there’s no need to condescend or to put other people down. And I would not stand down, and nor should I have.”
Murray’s reps have not responded to USA TODAY requests for comment.
Bill Murray claims:Geena Davis reveals she was ‘dying from shame’ after Murray screamed at her on film set
More:Lucy Liu details clash with Bill Murray on ‘Charlie’s Angels’ set
Contributing: Charles Trepany, Elise Brisco