If you’ve never watched this movie during the holidays it’s time to tune this coming Christmas and enjoy the laugh riot as Bill Murray goes off on the spirit of Christmas and gets his just desserts. Seriously this film is next level funny. It’s crude and crass in ways that he new comedies can’t match and more than that, it’s one of Bill Murray’s best.
Here are a few facts that even I didn’t know about.
10. It marked Bill Murray’s return to the big screen.
Before this point Bill Murray had been undergoing a self-imposed exile from Hollywood. This was his big, triumphant return.
9. Murray references Little Shop of Horrors in the ending credits.
The line when he says “Feed me Seymour!” is directly from the Little Shop of Horrors.
8. Bill had a lot of ad-libbed lines.
It’s not much of a secret that Bill Murray has ad-libbed his lines for years. It seems to get a better response most times.
7. There were a few reservations about turning A Christmas Carol into a comedy.
A Christmas Carol is after all a very heartfelt and dramatic tale. Making it into a comedy almost seemed to profane the epic story, but Scrooged was done in a way that kind of respected the tale while playing pretty loosely with it.
6. It was a big challenge for Murray to carry a film on his own.
Up until this point he’d worked with a stellar supporting cast and hadn’t had to carry a movie on his shoulders all that much.
5. Sam Kinison was supposed to be the ghost of Christmas past.
The reason for the casting switch was that Bill Murray was good friends with the guy that eventually got the job.
4. Carol Kane didn’t have a good time playing the ghost of Christmas present.
Despite her big smile throughout her part in the film she was reportedly sobbing between takes for up to 20 minutes straight sometimes. There’s no real explanation as to why.
3. Without Murray Robert Mitchum wouldn’t have made a cameo.
Robert Mitchum was a great and noted actor in his time and it was understandable that a cameo wasn’t something that someone in his league should be made to accept. But after speaking with Bill he signed on gladly.
2. The dramatic scene was left for the end on purpose.
It was important to show the full development of Frank Cross as a character. The audience had to realize that he’d finally come full circle and now understood just what it was to be a human being. That was essentially the big miracle that the story was all about.
1. It’s the movie where Bill Murray actually became an actor.
Up until this point Bill Murray had been a great comedian and knew how to get a laugh out of just about anyone. But his development as an actor had still been forthcoming. In this film he showed that he could take on a much more diverse role within a film that was essentially all on his shoulders, and he showed that he could really act.
I’m a big fan of this movie and I only knew a few of these. How about you?
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