Late Wednesday evening, Searchlight Pictures announced to the cast and crew that it had suspended production on Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut, Being Mortal, after investigating a complaint that it had found to be credible. At the time, no details about the complaint were available except that it did not involve Ansari, who was the subject of a sexual misconduct scandal back in 2018. Well, according to Deadline, the subject of the investigation has reportedly been revealed as Bill Murray, and it appears Searchlight is still looking into the matter.
Sources tell Deadline the reason for suspension had to do with a complaint made against star Bill Murray for inappropriate behavior. Searchlight had no comment on the matter as they do not comment during ongoing investigations. It is unknown at this time what Murray’s involvement in the project will be going forward as the investigation is still ongoing.
Whatever the accusation is against Murray, allegedly, it was serious enough for the studio to completely halt production, which was already halfway completed. In the letter to the cast and crew updating them on the situation after a three-day shutdown, Searchlight wrote, “Late last week, we were made aware of a complaint, and we immediately looked into it. After reviewing the circumstances, it has been decided that production cannot continue at this time.”
As of this writing, there are no further details on the fate of Being Mortal, which was scheduled for release in 2023 and recently added Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer to the cast.
(Via Deadline)