Wes Anderson Stands by Bill Murray Amidst Misconduct Allegations and Explains His Absence From ‘Asteroid City’

Wes Anderson just explained why Bill Murray is not in his latest release, Asteroid City — and it has nothing to do with the accusations against the controversial actor.

Anderson stood by his longtime collaborator and friend in a recent IndieWire interview, in which he said the allegations of misconduct lobbed against Murray will not impact their working relationship.

“My experience with Bill is so extensive. Bill was such a great supporter of me from the very beginning,” Anderson told IndieWire. “I don’t want to speak about somebody else’s experience, but he’s really part of my family. You know, he’s my daughter’s godfather. In fact, he actually baptized her. He’s the one who splashed the water.”

Asteroid City is just the second of Anderson’s eleven movies that Murray has not appeared in. According to Anderson, Steve Carrell‘s role was initially supposed to go to Murray.

“He was supposed to play the motel manager who Steve Carell plays, and Bill got COVID four days before he was supposed to start shooting,” Anderson said.

“He was in Ireland and in the case of our movie, we had schedules of so many people that are all puzzled around. The people who Bill was supposed to play scenes with were going to be gone by the time he cleared the COVID protocols and stuff. And in fact, he was quite sick,” he continued. “So Bill missed his part and Steve Carell came in quite suddenly. He was great, I loved having him. I met him, he arrived, and we were immediately shooting.”

Anderson and Murray got to catch up after filming wrapped, however: “Bill and I got in a car and drove to France. It was a great way to finish but it was the first time I hadn’t had him in a movie in a long time,” he said.

In 2022, Murray was accused of straddling a female crew member and kissing her through her mask. He reportedly paid her over $100,000 in exchange for her silence.

“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 at the time.

That isn’t the first time Murray has been called out for his behavior on set. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Rob Schneider claimed the actor “hated” the cast when he hosted in 1993. And both Geena Davis and Lucy Liu have also called him out for insulting them on set.