How Bill Murray’s Most Deranged Christmas Movie Was Born
As a Christmas classic turns 35, co-writer Mitch Glazer talks Dickens-ifying ’80s corporate greed, Murray’s heartfelt improv monologue, and rumors of on-set drama.
Photo Illustration by Erin O'Flynn/The Daily Beast/Paramount Pictures
A Christmas Carol has been reinvented countless times. George C. Scott has tackled it, Sir Patrick Stewart had a go, and even Kermit the Frog has tried to restore Ebenezer Scrooge’s faith in humanity—and succeeded. However, in the late 1980s, one pitch offering a fresh take on Charles Dickens’ redemption tale proved a step too far for movie studios.
“When we first turned in the script, one executive called and said, ‘He’s just so unlikable,’” laughs Mitch Glazer, co-writer of 1988’s dark festive favorite Scrooged, a film where Bill Murray plays a cynical TV boss who reluctantly learns the importance of empathy. “Michael [O’Donoghue, co-writer] and I were on a conference call and both simultaneously said, ‘Yes. He’s Scrooge. He’s really unlikable. Go back and read the book. He’s the meanest man in the world!’”
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