UK: Academy Award nominee Bill Murray jokes that he'd be happier to be able to do more sit-ups than win the Best Actor Oscar for new movie 'Hyde Park on Hudson' as he attends the gala screening at the London Film Festival

Record ID: 804085

  • Title: UK: Academy Award nominee Bill Murray jokes that he'd be happier to be able to do more sit-ups than win the Best Actor Oscar for new movie 'Hyde Park on Hudson' as he attends the gala screening at the London Film Festival
  • Date: 16th October 2012
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 16, 2012) (REUTERS) ***FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PULL FOCUS MOVIE POSTER TILT UP POSTER ACTOR BILL MURRAY ARRIVES SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS PHOTOGRAPHERS MURRAY WALKS OVER AND TALKS TO FANS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR BILL MURRAY, ON OSCAR BUZZ AROUND MOVIE, SAYING: "Well you can't get all mental about that. The nice thing about it is it makes
  • Embargoed: 31st October 2012 12:00
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  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA6WVTWXD653L3ZBT28KCZ3SFCE
  • Story Text: Actor Bill Murray appeared to be playing down the Oscar buzz surrounding his new film 'Hyde Park on Hudson' at its London Film Festival gala screening in Leicester Square on Tuesday (October 16).
    A best actor nominee for 2003's "Lost in Translation," Murray could have serious Oscar prospects again as Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the film.
    "Well you can't get all mental about that. The nice thing about it is it makes people kind of interested to see the movie. You just want people to see the film -- that's really the most important thing. It's good, you know, you want people to see it," he said.
    When asked specifically if he had any hopes for a best actor statue for portraying Roosevelt, he joked: "No...I'd rather be in top physical condition than win the Oscar, you know, if I could just get myself to do more sit-ups, that would be something I could really wish for."
    The film tells the story of the love affair between Roosevelt and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley, played by Laura Linney. It centres on a single weekend in 1939 when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth pay a royal visit to upstate New York with the objective of securing the United States' allegiance in the impending war.
    Murray said he researched the role deeply and that it even had an unexpected family connection.
    "Well of course I read a lot and I spoke with people that knew about him and knew people that worked with him. I just tried to put myself in the position...and it wasn't so difficult because the world situation is not so dissimilar to when he took over -- there was a great depression at the same time, a strange war breaking out on the other sides of the world. His polio was a big thing and I had a sister with polio so I sort of had that in my make-up, I had that in my history so I just tried to do the best I could," he said.
    Asked if it was true to say that he did not just consider fame and money when picking his roles, the 62-year-old actor said: "Well I think I have enough money and I am famous enough and this is enough for me. I don't need to be any more famous. But I like the job it's the only job I know how to do, what am I going to do? So I like the work, the actual work of it."
    Murray was joined on the red carpet by British co-star Samuel West, who plays King George VI, the stuttering monarch portrayed to great acclaim by Colin Firth in 'The King's Speech'.
    West said it was an honour to be able to follow Firth's lead.
    "Well very pleased to be following in the footsteps of an actor I admire and in a performance that I thought was really stonking. I think really the film wouldn't have been made quite so quickly and quite so easily if 'The King's Speech' hadn't. So I might not be playing it. So you know enormously grateful," said West.
    'Hyde Park on Hudson' is in UK cinemas from February 1 2013.
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