Geena Davis Details Bill Murray’s Nasty Behavior on ‘Quick Change’ Set: Inappropriate Massage Offers, Verbal Attacks

Geena Davis is accusing Bill Murray of some pretty nasty behavior while the two were working together on the 1990 comedy Quick Change. Davis, who costarred in the film with Murray (who also directed the movie with Howard Franklin), writes in her new memoir about a “bad” encounter in a hotel room and a public verbal assault that followed.
In Dying of Politeness, Davis’ new book, the actress writes about first being introduced to Murray in a hotel room, where he “insisted” on using “a massage device” called The Thumper on her, according to the U.K. outlet The Times, which interviewed Davis ahead of her memoir release.
In an excerpt of Dying of Politeness published in People, Davis details the disturbing encounter: “I said no multiple times, but he wouldn’t relent. I would have had to yell at him and cause a scene if I was to get him to give up trying to force me to do it; the other men in the room did nothing to make it stop. I realized with profound sadness that I didn’t yet have the ability to withstand this onslaught — or to simply walk out.”

Murray “placed the [massage device] on my back for a total of about two seconds,” Davis writes.
While filming Quick Change, Murray also allegedly verbally attacked Davis, where he screamed at her “for being late” while she was waiting for her wardrobe and continued to yell at her “in front of hundreds of cast, crew, curious passers-by,” per The Times. 
Reflecting on her experience working with Murray on Quick Change, Davis told The Times, “That was bad.”

She continued, “The way he behaved at the first meeting… I should have walked out of that or profoundly defended myself, in which case I wouldn’t have got the part. I could have avoided that treatment if I’d known how to react or what to do during the audition. But, you know, I was so non-confrontational that I just didn’t.”
Davis later added that the exchange “wasn’t [her] fault” after The Times reporter suggested she was blaming herself for Murray’s actions, adding, “Ha. Point taken. There’s no point in regretting things, and yet, here I was regretting.”

Murray’s on-set behavior has been the subject of much scrutiny in recent years. Lucy Liu has spoken out about a clash with Murray on the set of 2000’s Charlie’s Angels, and he recently shut down production on Aziz Ansari’s film Being Mortal, according to a report published by Deadline in April.
Most recently, Murray dropped out of Asteroid City, which he blamed on his COVID diagnosis, an excuse that didn’t quite match up with the production timeline of the Wes Anderson film.
Murray has denied wrongdoing on Being Mortal, brushing off his accusations of “inappropriate behavior” on set as “a difference of opinion,” while Variety sources insisted that Murray’s incident on the Ansari film wasn’t related to his Asteroid City exit.