Bill Murray Dropped Out of Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ Due to COVID
Manori Ravindran International EditorBill Murray’s mysterious absence from Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” didn’t go unnoticed this week after Focus Features boarded the project and revealed new details about the film.The actor — an Anderson regular who elevated movies such as “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” — was one of the first to be attached to the Spain-shot film, which went into production last September. On Wednesday, however, Murray was conspicuously missing from the pic’s heaving cast, which includes Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Carrell, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton and Adrien Brody, among many others.A source close to the production tells Variety that Murray contracted COVID-19 shortly before the movie began shooting last September, and the project was forced to recast his role.