James Gunn Says Bill Murray Is A Huge Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Fan
Before he teamed up with the Guardians of the Galaxy and (the) Suicide Squad, James Gunn was penning adventures of an altogether different supergroup: the Mystery Incorporated crew. Yes, Gunn wrote the screenplays for both 2002's live-action "Scooby-Doo" and the 2004 sequel "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed."
While the second movie may not have been nearly as big a hit as its predecessor, it did earn one true-blue fan: Bill Murray. The comedy legend and Wes Anderson regular once expressed his undying admiration for "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" at a party, and Gunn recounted his very own personal "No one will ever believe you" moment with the superstar on Twitter, which you can read in full below!
Gunn was actually so passionate about the "Scooby-Doo" property that he would hang out on set observing director Raja Gosnell to learn the process of making big-budget, CGI-filled movies, as attested by our interview with his "The Suicide Squad" producer Charles Roven, who also produced the "Scooby-Doo" duology. While the intention was to eventually bring Gunn on to write and direct a third "Scooby-Doo" movie set in Scotland, that project was ultimately cancelled after the lackluster box office grosses of "Scooby-Doo 2." Still, it's safe to say that what Gunn learned on set may have come in handy down the road when wrangling CGI raccoons and weasels.
'He was talking up Scooby-Doo 2 around town.'
Here is Gunn's Bill Murray encounter in full:
"My Bill Murray story is once I was at a party and saw Bill and freaked out because he's a hero. But you know, I'm cool, I don't bother people like that. I'm just gonna sit on the couch and pretend like f**king Bill Stripes Ghostbusters Groundhog Day Murray isn't standing right there."
Not to interrupt, but if The GZA in Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes" is to be believed, the correct nomenclature is actually "Bill Groundhog-Day, Ghostbustin'-ass Murray."
"But then he saw me and came over and shook my hand. He knew who I was, which was weird and cool. And then he knelt on the floor beside me and rested his elbow on my knee, like, leaning on me and he starting waxing poetic about how much he loved my work on 'Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.' I thought he was f**king with me but then I began hearing through other people how much he was talking up 'Scooby-Doo 2' around town and how much he loved the movie. Anyway, I hope he's having a happy birthday."
So yes indeed, happy 71st birthday to Murray, who will next be seen in Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch" on October 22 and reprising his role as Peter Venkman in Jason Reitman's "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" on November 19.