Wes Anderson sticks up for Bill Murray, 'he's part of my family'

Wes Anderson plans to continue his collaboration with Bill Murray despite recent allegations of sexual harassment and bad behavior on set.

In an interview with IndieWire, Anderson expressed his intention to work with Murray, whom he considers part of his family.

He acknowledged the extensive support Murray has provided throughout their working relationship mentioning that Murray is his daughter's godfather and even baptized her.

However, production on the film Being Mortal, in which Murray was involved, was suspended last year following an alleged incident with another cast member.

Murray addressed the allegations in April but did not provide details.

Anderson also revealed that Murray was originally cast in his latest film, Asteroid City, but had to drop out due to contracting COVID-19. Steve Carell replaced him in the role.

"Bill was supposed to be in the movie," Anderson told IndieWire. "He was supposed to play the motel manager who Steve Carell plays, and Bill got COVID four days before he was supposed to start shooting."

"He was in Ireland and in the case of our movie, we had schedules of so many people that are all puzzled around. The people who Bill was supposed to play scenes with were going to be gone by the time he cleared the COVID protocols and stuff. And in fact, he was quite sick. So Bill missed his part and Steve Carell came in quite suddenly. He was great, I loved having him. I met him, he arrived, and we were immediately shooting."

Despite this, Anderson and Murray reunited after the film's completion, emphasizing their strong bond.