Bill Murray found it "daunting" to celebrate a day dedicated to him.
The veteran actor was honoured at this year's Toronto Film Festival, with fans and fellow stars paying tribute to his talents. While it was a privilege to be recognised, Bill was nervous in the lead-up to the event
“OK. Daunting. I was sort of dreading it; I thought it would be so embarrassing. But people seemed to think it was as funny as I did. It was just as good as having a birthday and a great cake and fireworks. It was a good day," he recalled to British newspaper The Guardian.
Bill can’t get his head around the fact that fans put so much faith in their favourite stars, admiring their every move. But Bill does have a slight understanding of the pedestal he has been placed on and tries to set a good example.
“It’s always a question for me: how are people pulling this off? How can they live with it, how they can be that person up on a screen and then walk down a street or go to a grocery store or drive a car or have a conversation. Like: how does that happen? Where do you get to be superhuman? How can you do it?" he mused.
“People identify with that. They think: I’d love to be Superman for a while, or be the guy who’s being funny and not taking any guff. I wish I could say that to my neighbour or my wife. You’d like to have that kind of freedom. You go: yeah, that’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s what a hero does.”
His latest film is heart-warming comedy St. Vincent, in which he plays the title character, who forms a close friendship with the little boy next door. Bill quickly got his head around his screen alter ego and his lifestyle.
"Vincent has got to acknowledge that we all have an obligation to more than just ourselves. In this world it plays out as our fellow man," he added. "And ultimately something higher – that’s the ultimate we manifest. But the tasks we’re given here are our families.”
