Being Mortal has been paused for months, following the alleged misconduct of Bill Murray on-set—Keke Palmer shared she wants to somehow find a way to continue filming.
The biographical film, Being Mortal began production last March but was quickly halted when there were misconduct allegations against the Ghostbusters star, Bill Murray. The Nope and Lightyear star, Keke Palmer recently shared her thoughts on the film project and stated how she wanted to somehow salvage it. Since this past April, Searchlight Pictures had suspended production of the film.
The film was supposed to be Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut, with the story being based on surgeon Atul Gawande’s 2014 book, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Ansari wrote the film and was supposed to co-star with Murray, Palmer and Seth Rogan.
Palmer commented to the Variety reporters at the Academy Museum Gala on the film delay, “If somebody could figure it out, it would be Aziz… 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 it.”
Palmer did not comment directly to the allegations against Murray, but noted that the film would probably need to have a “major rewrite” on Ansari’s end. “[Ansari] would probably have to do a major rewrite, but I know what we got was gold,” she added.
A report from Puck writer, Eriq Gardner, shed some light on some details of Murray’s misconduct, which involved unwanted straddling and kissing. Gardner wrote: “This much younger woman, Murray felt, had been flirting with him. So, at one moment when the two were in close proximity near a bed that was part of the production, Murray started kissing her body and straddling her.
It was perhaps an unclear bit of physical comedy, but one that was unannounced. She couldn’t move because he outweighed her, she alleged. Then, he kissed her on the mouth, although when he did so, both Murray and the woman were wearing masks, owing to Covid protocols. Murray later said that he was just being jestful…”
The report also noted how the woman who filed the complaint against Murray reported to have settled the case for just over $100,000. Murray issued his apology in an interview around the same time the Being Mortal production halted. As Palmer shifted most of her talk at the gala on being cast in Whoopi Goldberg and Disney+’s Sister Act 3, it seems like Being Mortal may be scrapped for good if things cannot be resolved or fixed. Palmer still has some faith the film could gain traction again…someday.
