Things I Learned from once binge-watching every Bill Murray movie
1. Stand next to the smartest person in the room. It defined his entire career and life
That’s how they met. They did Stripes, Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters, and other movies together.
Ramis said, “When you find the smartest person in the room, stand next to him. I stood next to Bill Murray.”
2. Act like your rich
Bill Murray said: Gilda Radner was rich so she would go into these auditions and not care at all whether she got them. So they were so dazzled by her lack of caring they would be dying to give her the role.
He continued: So I figured, I’m not rich but I’ll just pretend like I am so I won’t care at all and see what happens and I’ve been doing it ever since.
3. “You die in the improv set five times out of nine. So, once you get over your fear of dying, nothing else ever really scares you”
4. “If you make others look good, you’ll look good.”
He started out in improv. He didn’t try to make himself stand out and look the best. He was on stage with John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, and others who went on to enormous fame.
He just tried to make them look good. And he kept moving up the ladder of success as a result.
5. “If I see someone who’s out cold on their feet, I’m going to try to wake that person up. It’s what I’d want someone to do for me. Wake me the hell up and come back to the planet.”
Bill takes the cigarette out of the man’s mouth, take a puff, and then gives it back to the man. Says, “Nobody is going to believe you when you tell them this,” and then walks away.
Bill Murray views all life as an opportunity to squeeze a bit more juice out of it by improvising on that moment.
And why not? Else it’s just like reading lines off of a script.
6. “The more relaxed you are, the better you are at everything: the better you are with your loved ones, the better you are with your enemies, the better you are at your job, the better you are with yourself.”
There’s an entire science around the clutch moment in sports.
If you are tense, your muscles constrict. You won’t do as well. If you are relaxed, you can play at your optimal level.
The same goes for our emotional muscles. In all of Bill Murray’s movies, he comes across as if nothing phases him.
When I go to a social event, I am nervous. When I go to give a talk, I’m nervous. Or on a date. Or to a meeting.
Now that I’ve binge-watched Bill I’m going to pretend to be him.
7. “I realized the more fun I had, the more relaxed I was working, the better I worked.”
8. “It’s really powerful to say ‘No’; it’s really the most powerful thing you can say.”
Bill Murray has turned down the starring roles for movies like Batman, Forrest Gump, Splash, Awakenings.
He was considered for the Han Solo role in Star Wars!
He was going to be the lawyer in Philadelphia (instead of Denzel Washington)!
The movies he’s said “no” to have grossed billions.
Do we care? Does he care? If you stick with the things you love, be with the people you love, and say no to the rest, everything takes care of itself.
Ignore anyone who tries to steal joy from you.
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