Bill Murray, eager to prove he was more than a late-night goof, jumped at the role of Thompson after first choice John Belushi bailed to make The Blues Brothers. In hindsight, it’s amazing that Murray survived the making of Where the Buffalo Roam.
He befriended Thompson, which is not healthy for most living creatures. An early conversation about Harry Houdini ended with Thompson lashing Murray’s hands and feet to a cast-iron chair and tossing him into a swimming pool to attempt an escape. Only someone jumping in to free him saved Murray from drowning.
Getting thrown into a pool didn’t stop Bill from throwing himself into the role. He was obsessive about nailing Thompson’s mannerisms, learning to pour lighter fluid into his mouth so he could belch flames past people’s heads. Thompson moved in with Murray during filming so “it finally got to the point where I could drink with him,” Bill said. “I was basically living twenty-four-hour days. No sh*t.”
The movie was a disaster, with Thompson launching a plot to break into Universal Studios with Murray to edit the movie to their liking. It didn’t happen, leaving Thompson to label the movie a “horrible pile of crap.” He also threatened to attack the director with a baseball bat.
Unfortunately for his SNL castmates, the usually friendly Murray wouldn’t (or couldn’t) shake Thompson’s dark character when he returned to the show. He wore dark glasses all the time, tossing temper tantrums while berating hosts, camera operators, and scripts that he found subpar.
When Johnny Depp signed up to play Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, he called Murray with a concern. “I wanted to know how long this was going to stay with me,” said Depp.
Murray’s response: It took me five years.