‘Scrooged’: Bill Murray’s Funniest Moment in This Christmas Classic Was Completely by Accident
Bill Murray has entertained audiences since the late ’70s when he joined an award-winning cast of comedic greats on Saturday Night Live. He parlayed his deadpan humor and impeccable improvisational skills into a Hollywood career that has seen him star in classic movies such as Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, and Groundhog Day.
In 1988, Murray took on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in Scrooged, a dark comedic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Though the film didn’t bowl over critics, it has become a Christmas classic, with many people keeping it in their rotation of holiday favorites to watch every year.
It turns out one of the film’s funniest moments was unscripted and made it to the screen only after Murray had an unexpected accident.
Bill Murray stars in the classic Christmas movie ‘Scrooged’
In a modern take on the classic Dickens’ Christmas tale, Murray portrays Frank Cross, a selfish TV executive who spends Christmas Eve forcing his staff to work. Three ghosts appear to teach him lessons about his life.
According to Slash Film, before the actor agreed to take on the iconic role, he demanded the script be reworked to meet his vision of how he wanted the story told. Murray had taken a self-imposed hiatus for several years after the success of Ghostbusters and was hesitant about returning to a film as the lead. The Charlie’s Angels actor diligently worked with the creators to reinvent various elements of the Scrooged script to allow for as much improvisation as possible.
At the time of filming, director Richard Donner said, “You don’t direct Billy; you pull him back.” He added, “You give him a platform, make him as comfortable as possible, and he comes at you from every direction. He did for me.”
Murray reportedly improvised most of his heartfelt speech in the final scene, and when he finished, the crew broke into spontaneous applause at the climactic ending.
The actor’s unintentional pratfall in ‘Scrooged’ became comedic gold
However, not all of the Caddyshack star’s improvisation was on purpose in Scrooged. In one classic scene, Frank believes a waiter is on fire in one of the ghostly sequences. He throws water on the unsuspecting server and proceeds out the restaurant door. Murray doesn’t see the puddle of water accumulated on the floor and accidentally slips and falls. True to form, the Garfield actor takes physical comedy to the next level, turning the unexpected tumble into comedic gold.
With cameras still rolling, the director caught the scene on film, and it became one of the funniest and most talked-about moments in Scrooged. “It really is a serendipitous moment as it makes an already funny scene funnier,” Nightmare on Film Street points out.
Bill Murray’s best performances
The longtime actor recently appeared with Russell Crowe and Zac Efron in The Greatest Beer Run Ever and is scheduled to portray Krylar in the 2023 Marvel film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Despite playing memorable roles in films such as Stripes, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Lost in Translation, Murray will always be remembered for his stint on Saturday Night Live as the anchor for “Weekend Update.”
And moviegoers will forever recognize Murray as Peter Venkman, the character he brought to life in Ivan Reitman’s 1984 classic Ghostbusters. Citing this film as the star’s best performance, The Guardian says, “Every line Murray utters here became legendary because few actors have better embodied a role.”
