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Bill Murray Gives Interview On Letterman While Bleeding From The Head

Jon Bershad — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:03:54 +0000

Bill Murray got a little zany last night on Letterman. The actor dove into a dumpster swimming pool to promote his new movie Get Low, which, honestly, doesn’t look like the type of movie that the key demographic would be impressed by actors diving into dumpster swimming pools. Still though, Murray did it and he apparently hurt himself to as he then proceeded to give a lengthy interview while bleeding from the head.

Murray doesn’t do television interviews that often but he typically goes all out when he does. This time, he joined in David Letterman‘s mockery of the “dumpster pools” that Mayor Bloomberg plans to bring from Brooklyn to Manhattan by literally diving into one. He then walked straight into the studio to give his interview but you can pardon most audience members for being a bit too distracted by the streak of blood across his forehead the entire time to pay attention to all of it. However, we can only imagine that Murray cares deeply about the independent film. He’s willing to bleed for his art, something we don’t expect he’d do for Garfield 2: A Tail of Two Kitties.

Check out the video of the dive and Murray’s entrance into the studio (head wound included) below.

Bill Gates’ Public Partying And Other Oddities: Sundance Recap Part I

Jonathan Fuhrman — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:27:13 +0000

A glance at my watch indicated it was just before 1am on the first Saturday night/early Sunday morn of the Sundance Film Festival. The setting was downstairs at Ciseros restaurant on Main St in Park City, which had been rechristened for the week as the Island/Def Jam House of Hype aka The Film Lounge, one of the hottest party spots/ gifting lounges during the festival.

John Legend and the Roots had just taken the stage at this intimate gathering of film-making elite. The lucky few hundred party-goers in attendance at one of the hottest events of all of Sundance were about to see John Legend and the legendary Roots crew jam together before a live audience for the very first time (Legend later announced that they would be releasing a collaborative new album later in 2010). As the music swelled and the crowd on the over-packed dance floor swayed to the beat, one figure loomed large over the crowd, dancing atop his VIP banquet. But this was no ordinary man, he was the richest man in the room. Not just this room mind you, but every room on the planet. Yes, Mr. Bill Gates was seriously getting his party on. You may ask what was Bill Gates doing partying so publicly in the middle of Sundance. It’s ok, I asked myself the very same question, and I can assure you he wasn’t there showcasing his dance moves as a public audition for a spot on next season’s Dancing With the Stars – his funky chicken was just a tad too rusty. In any event, I’m pretty certain his important work with the Bill Gates Foundation will keep him from dancing across our TV sets anytime soon.

In fact, Gates’ appearance at the premiere independent film festival in the U.S. was tied to Microsoft’s new web search site Bing serving as one of the primary sponsors of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In many ways Sundance 2010 served as Bing’s big coming out party. You could not walk down Main street without bumping into some Bing imagery, be it the “Bing Bar”, the site of many a film premiere party, or the Bing street marketing crew working the crowds in the street into a frenzy by tossing such Bing-emblazened products as ski caps and scarfs. And yes, as I detailed in an earlier piece here, Bing even sponsored this year’s Sundance party list. While the fear may be that corporate sponsorship by Bing and others could overwhelm such a small prestigious film festival, I’m very happy to report that, Bill Gates dance parties notwithstanding, the celebration of independent film is still very much at the heart of the Sundance experience.

So how best to explain to a newbie what it’s like to visit Park City, Utah during Sundance? Well, have you ever had one of those dreams where you can’t quite place where you are, but you seem to know everyone you bump into, even though these people are from all different aspects of your life, and really would never all be at the same place at the same time? Well Sundance is kind of like that, except add in movie stars and paparazzi. A large portion of the Hollywood community descends into Park City for a week or so, and everywhere you go you bump into someone in the industry who you’ve worked with or met along the way, along with plenty of people you’ve grown up watching on screens big and small. Oh, and I should mention everyone looks a lot less fabulous in heavy winter attire (it pretty much snowed every day at the festival this year). The centralized and intimate nature of the festival certainly leads to some random encounters. One moment I found myself sitting next to David Cross and his girlfriend Amber Tamblyn at Easy Street bar watching the end of the classic Saints-Vikings NFC Championship, and the next I was sharing a bathroom with Josh Duhamel (sorry ladies, I didn’t look). Oh, and for the record, those events didn’t happen sequentially.

>>>NEXT: More than celebrity encounters, Sundance is about the movies. We talk about those next.

SNL Alum Movie Grosses: Eddie Murphy First, Tina Fey Last, Rob Schneider FTW

Rachel Sklar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:30:29 +0000

This is fantastic – the folks at Daily Fill & Movie Fill have done a major data cull, ranking SNL alumni by their total movie grosses and Rotten Tomato rankings. The results? Eddie Murphy dominates (thank you, Norbit), Tina Fey is in last place (but give her time), and Rob Schneider’s doing better than Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase and Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally and City Slickers? Really).

Less impressive are the tomato rankings — most of the SNL alums don’t do so well by that count, with half or more of the films registering a splat (here Fey can claim bragging rights, and also Bill Murray, the clear artiste of the lot).

It’s not perfect — the absence of Steve Martin is a glaring omission, hardly made up for by the inclusion of Kristen Wiig — but it’s pretty damn good, with a lot of fun data to slice and dice. (UPDATE: I’m an idiot, Steve Martin was never actually a cast member, my childhood memories of King Tut and the Festrunk brothers notwithstanding. But they did leave out Jay Mohr – Jerry McGuire had to have made some crazy bank, right?) It’s also yet another way to look at the massive body of work that has been spawned by SNL and its players over the years.

For the full-page data pore, go here. Don’t forget to tip your hat to Muppets From Space, the only tomato film on Rob Schneider’s list.

SNL Alums: By The Numbers [Daily Fill/Movie Fill]