A Filmmaker Describes The Crazy Process Of Casting Bill Murray In A Movie

Bill Murray is a notoriously quirky actor who refuses to play by Hollywood's rules.

One of the most interesting things about the 64-year-old actor is how he is pitched, and chooses, his projects.

According to a 2013 Vanity Fair article, Murray "relies on a mythical 1-800 phone number to screen projects. On the off chance that a filmmaker does manage to track down said number, convince Murray to take part in his/her project, and lure him to his/her set, the unpredictable comedian-actor can apparently be extremely supportive, even taking substantial pay cuts and offering up his own funds if he believes enough in a project."

Writer/director Theodore Melfi experienced a similar situation recently while trying to pitch Murray a script.

The actor would eventually agree to star in Melfi's directorial debut "St. Vincent," which recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival - but Melfi first had a wild ride finding Murray.

Melfi told USA Today's Andrea Mandell that "The nuts and bolts is (Murray) has no agent and manager, as everyone knows. You just call the 1-800 number. And I left, I don't know, a dozen messages. It's not his voice on there. It's a Skytel voicemail with a menu. You have to record the message and send the message. It's so confusing. I think if you can get through that and believe in it, he might call you back."

With no response to his messages, Melfi began calling Murray every week. When that didn't work, Melfi wrote a handwritten note to the actor and sent it through the post office to a New York address provided by Murray's lawyer.

Two weeks later, Melfi finally got a response from Murray through his lawyer, asking that the filmmaker snail mail a script to another post office box on Martha's Vineyard.

Melfi tells USA Today the chain of events that happened next:

"Two or three weeks after that, my phone rings and he goes, 'Ted? It's Bill Murray. Is this a good time?'

I pull over and he goes, 'Listen, I got this script of yours and I don't know who you are. I don't Google people. I don't know who you are, what you do. Tell me about yourself.' So that was 20 minutes of me stammering around trying to tell Bill Murray who I am."

Murray then suggested the two meet for coffee the following day, despite being on different coasts. When Melfi's work commitments didn't allow him to fly to New York from Los Angeles the next day, Murray invited the filmmaker to accompany him to the Cannes Film Festival later that week.

When that didn't work, Melfi asked for a "better number" to reach the actor when he returned from Cannes. Murray responded, "No no, you've got the number."

Three weeks later, Melfi received a text: "Ted it's Bill. Can you meet me at LAX in an hour?"

No longer bogged down with work commitments, Melfi jumped at the opportunity. "I go to baggage claim and there's a guy in a black rumpled suit holding a card that says 'B. Murray' on it. Bill Murray comes walking down the hall with his golf bag and goes, 'Ted? You want to talk about the script? Let's go for a drive.'"

What happened next was unlike any other Hollywood casting:

"So we get in this town car with this driver and we stop and get four In and Out grilled cheeses and two orders of fries. And he pulls out the script from his attaché case; it's got dog-ears on it, some scratches here and there. And we drive from L.A. to three hours south at the Pechanga Indian reservation. I have no idea where I am or where I'm going. We drive and drive and drive. We end up at the back of this reservation on a golf course. He has a house there. We talk about the script the entire way.

We pull into this house and he tours me around. He's got tangelo trees and avocado growing next door. I used the bathroom. I go back outside and he goes, 'Alright, this is great. Do you think we should do it?' (Melfi says he'd love to.) He goes, 'OK, we're gonna do it. We'll make the movie.' I said, 'That's so great Bill, just one thing, if you could do one thing for me. Could you tell someone other than me that this happened? No one is going to believe this story. I can't possibly go to the studio and say Bill Murray said yes on the way to the Indian reservation in the back of a town car. Murray said, 'I'll call someone, don't worry about it.' "

While Melfi's story may sound like a once-in-a-lifetime wild good chase, the filmmaker assured USA Today, "You might think so but if you talk to any director who's cast Bill Murray, they all have a similar story."

"St. Vincent" opens in theaters October 24th. Naomi Watts, Melissa McCarthy, and Chris O'Dowd also star. Watch the funny trailer below: