Why Bill Murray Was Perfect for “Charismatic, Yet Problematic” The Friend Role

Casting Bill Murray is never a neutral choice. He brings a person and a half into every room (or screen)—a concoction of dry wit, soulful charm, and subtle command. For the film The Friend, adapted from the book of the same name by Sigrid Nunez, directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel tapped Bill Murray to play Walter, a quasi-controversial, womanizing, unpredictable old-school author and teacher. The challenge was finding someone who could match that kind of presence—someone who didn’t always need to be there to be felt, and someone the audience loved despite the storied antics.

Speaking with ComicBook about the film, we asked what Bill brought to the role, and the filmmakers answered simply: “He brought Bill Murray.” In The Friend, Walter’s presence is largely felt in the story’s world and its characters, albeit with limited screen time. However, his ghost hovers over the emotional arc. To carry that, the actor had to have a memorable force—someone who lingers in the mind long after he exits a scene. As the directors say, they needed his “gravitas” as much as his being “funny” and “light on his feet.”

With Bill, the audience doesn’t need much to comprehend. He walks in, and the atmosphere shifts. When asked about his least favorite press question, he jokes about the questions of preparing for any given role – his answer across the board is “very very little.” Case in point, you cast him for him. Murray’s ability to effortlessly make an impression, off and on the job, makes him uniquely suited for the vital role. 

His ability to surprise not just on screen but off-screen too—whether it’s an unexpected improv moment, a candid comments in an interview such as this, or the subtle flick of an eyebrow and twitch of the lip —keeps everyone in the room (and the audience) on their toes, and that unpredictability was key to embodying Walter’s complex character.” Just as Sofia Coppola recalled never being quite sure whether he’d show up to set for Lost in Translation, McGehee and Siegel likely understood that casting him meant embracing chaos enmeshed with brilliance.  

Naomi Watts, Murray’s co-star in The Friend, laughed when asked if the central Great Dane of the film, perhaps a “massive burden and a gift,” felt like an extension or metaphor for her complicated relationship with the character of Walter. She replied “I thought of Bill…and his character…and maybe some of Bill too.”

The dog, like Murray, is a burden and a gift—something complicated, funny, and essential. Her giggle is the stamp: the lines between actor, character, and irresistible funny charm blur easily when it comes to Bill. There’s something alchemical about the way Bill Murray fuses with his roles. Heavy on the charisma, playful with his problematic, never quite where you expect him, and yet always leaving behind a trace—Murray doesn’t just play Walter. He is the idea of Walter: charismatic, deeply flawed, unshakable, and wholly original. In The Friend, it’s that fusion of charm and complexity—being both a “massive burden and a gift”—that makes Bill Murray perfect for this role. In tapping Bill Murray, the co-directors brought on not just the actor, but the unforgettable persona of Murray to bring Walter to life.