Bill Murray Drops Out of New Wes Anderson Movie After COVID Diagnosis

By Nicole Drum

Earlier this week, Focus Features released the final cast list for Wes Anderson's upcoming film, Asteroid City and absent from the list was longtime Anderson collaborator Bill Murray who had been expected to star in the film. Now, we know why. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Murray had to drop out of the film just before filming began in Spain last September due to COVID-19. Asteroid City is now in post-production.

Anderson's 11th film, Asteroid City is described as a poetic meditation on the meaning of life. It tells the story of a fictional American desert town circa 1955 and its Junior Stargazer convention that brings together students and parents from across the country for scholarly competition, rest and recreation, comedy, drama, romance, and more. The film will star a mix of frequent Anderson collaborators and other actors, including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Grace Edwards, Aristou Meehan, Sophia Lillis, Ethan Lee, Jeff Goldblum and Rita Wilson. The film is based on a story by Anderson and Roman Coppola.

Goldblum recently teased his role in the film while promoting Jurassic World Dominion.

"Ooh, good question. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Well, I like being able to work in the series of movies that are a little bit related to each other, even though they're very different, of the great Wes Anderson," Goldblum shared. "He's a genius. I adore him, and in fact, I don't want to give anything away, but I have a little bit of a sprig of a something, maybe kind of tasty, in this next thing that he does. We were in Spain and with an amazing cast, as you can imagine, and had a good time of it." 

Asteroid City does not yet have a release date but is expected sometime later this year.

Are you looking forward to Asteroid City? Are you disappointed that COVID-19 kept Bill Murray from being in the film? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.

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