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Fascinating. But far more fascinating is why you decided to finally “dish!”

I HAVEN’T EVEN READ THE BLOG YET, BUT I’M SO DAMN RELIEVED IT’S FINALLY HERE, CONNIE.

j--WHO DOESN’T WAIT VERY WELL.

"But my favorite Bill Murray role is Steve Zissou from The Life Aquatic, the inspiration for my own Steve, Steve Jaax.”

I’m am so bursting right now!! 

I loved this movie.

I can see it...I can see the steve jaax in it all.

Okay, I’m not done reading yet.

J--who doesn’t wait very well.

"Both men are celebrities riding the coattails of past glory, both are effortlessly charismatic, both are egomaniacal, neither have the least bit of maliciousness in their make-up, but they do have a smidge of pettiness. And both men are just self-aware enough, just honest enough to glance back with regret before bulling forward with desperate determination”

I’m not that insightful, however, to get all THAT, Connie.

"And about that Iron Chef appearance… he wasn’t a guest chef, I never said he was a chef. He was interviewed in the audience with his wife and kid when he was there to cheer on a chef buddy of his.”

To this I say

Threw me completely off.

I thought Steve Jaax was a combo of
a) Anthony Bourdain (chef and damn funny and even steve jaaxish) whom i love...until he had lunch with Namibian Bushmen, that is!

and…

b)Hugh Laurie (at least physically).

Hello everyone. Sorry, I’ve been lurking around, but haven’t had a chance to post in a little while

The Life Aquatic was so fundamentally Bill Murray. I compeltely agree. I also thought that Owen Wilson was the perfect perfect actor to pair with him there.

I find a lot of the young Bill Murray in Mr. Wilson’s acting, and the two of them together in that kind of movie was kind of like a passing of the torch sort of thing. Am I wrong?

By the way Eloisa, I heard it was your birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Two words—Groundhog Day.

Anti Heroes....

hmmmm.

Not as profound and interesting as your choice, Connie but....

Han Solo.  he cut right through the sappy nobility of Luke, God bless him.

Don’t forget, if you haven’t taken the survey below, we’re still interested in your input!

I did not see Bill Murray in Steve Jaax, but that’s understandable...since I didn’t care for The Life Aquatic.  (I tried.  I’m a huge Owen Wilson fan...but I wanted to stab myself to spare myself the misery of finishing the movie.  I suppose it’s that I don’t care for my fiction to feature characters so flawed they remind me of family members.  If I wanted to watch my family, I’d go to a reunion.)

However, I did find Bill Murray sexy in Stripes and Groundhog Day.  I like Stripes better, really...that whole bit with the spatula.

However, just so you don’t think I don’t like all indy films, I did watch Little Miss Sunshine, and despite that I normally can’t stand Steve Carrell--I loved it.  I even loved Steve.

Groundhog Dog is actually one of the deepest movies around.  I get something new out of it everytime I watch it--some philosophically heavy thing. 

MsHellion, my husband agrees with you.

Anti Heroes:

Oh!

Dexter Morgan from the showtime series Dexter.

He’s a serial killer......wait for it......

who only kills bad guys who jumped through holes in the system. 

Course, sometimes the show makes me gag what with all the serial killing.
It’s so difficult not to like him...and also to like him.

It’d definitely have to be Kevin Spacey in “The Usual Suspects.” I’m drawn to every performance he gives & regardless of his motives, he makes me empathize in a way no one else does.

Alan Rickman as the sheriff of Nottingham-- he totally stole that show from Kevin Costner!

Connie, I have not had the chance to read HOT DISH yet. (I have EXPRESS MALE, ONCE UPON A PILLOW, & SEX LIVES OF CANNIBALS going at the moment).  I will get to it very soon.  The plot sounds wonderful.  (I read MY SURRENDER last week.)

The guys I have a soft spot for are the ones who have no intention of getting involved in someone else’s problems, want very quickly to say good-bye forever and get back to their simple existence, but somehow get sucked into the situation and then just resign themselves to helping to the end.  And in return they get loved.

I’m sorry to say that I am not a huge fan of BM.  Probably because my hubby and 4 sons have run those comedies into the ground and I cringe to remember them imitating all those crude parts.

Coming out of lurk mode to say, as usual, Connie your eloquence is simply amazing (even if your typing skills aren’t!) You saw so much in Life Acquatic that now I’ve got to go Netflix it and see it again.

That was an awesome blog I was dying to read, Constance!  I just can’t resist a smart guy with a snarky sense of humor.  GROUNDHOG DAY is still one of my favorite movies. 

(And I’m just relieved you didn’t base him on Bobby Flay!)

Nothing is sexier than confidence and anti-heros for all their - well anti-ness - usually exude confidence.  Kevin Spacey is a great anti-hero in The Usual Suspect (thanks for the reminder coraloc).

I think Russell Crowe in LA Confidential was a bit of an anti-hero.  He was all pent up anger and violence and oh so sexy.

From literature Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis comes to mind - brilliant, troubled, the first supervillain.  I can see someone really HOT playing him.

I do like Bill Murray - favorite movies of his Groundhog Day and Lost in Translation.

Now I can see Bill Murray in Jaax. Especially that line “Everyone experiments in college” (very funny).

Ground Hog Day is also one of my favorite movies! I’m a big Bill Murray fan.

I sooooo loved Dexter!  I can’t wait for the next season (there has to be another season… right?  right?)

I’m a huge Bill Murray fan - also from back in the SNL days.  I love GROUNDHOG DAY, too!

I started watching THE LIFE AQUACTIC but couldn’t stay awake, which is NOT a commentary on the movie since I fall asleep as soon as I sit on the couch at night.  I still want to see it - I’ll have to order it from NETFLIX again.  I liked the character of Steve Jaax a lot - I can see the Bill Murray quirkiness in him.

Bill Murray is such a great actor. My all time favortie rolls are SNL: Todd, Ghostbusters, Scrooge, Groundhog Day and Lost in Translation.

J Perry!

Yes! Han Solo~! lol

and Teresa… Groundhog Day.. I love that movie! ... hmm Anti heroes… I’ll have to get back to you on that one…

Also.. I LOVED Hot Dish. That ending was so AWESOME!!! 

I know… how about Val Kilmer in Top Gun? Would that be an anti-hero?

Commodore Norrington in Pirates of the Carribean.. (sp??)

An interesting blog..hub and I were discussing the good-looks question last night, while watching Paul Newman’s biography. Just the fact that these really good looking guys do a lot to overcome their handsome-ness..i.e. take gritty roles, or “bad” guy roles..Johnny Depp for one.

-I’ve always thought Steve Martin kind of falls into this catagory..(Bill Murray’s!) starts off as a goofball-type and then takes roles on that have a more bitter-sweet taste. I love some of the quieter calmer stuff they both have done.
Good blog!

Never in a million years would I have guessed Bill Murray but, as you well know Connie, it all makes so much sense.

I have always thought Bill Murray was waiting to come into his own as he has done in the indies! 

Groundhog Day is an all time favorite of mine. 

And since ms. mary mentioned Steve Martin who I think is one of the yummiest men out there.  I love his work. Have you read his books?  They are short but PACKED with such poignant beauty of people living just on the outside of everything else in the world.

And since they’re pals in real life...Martin Short.  Not for nothin’, I’m just sayin’!

Oh, and Tom Hanks...before he let his hair grow long.  Just an ordinary guy but still....there’s just something about him.

I just want to say that I am only four chapters into Hot Dish right now and perhaps I shouldn’t have read this blog..LOL!  This is really going to make it hard for me to see this guy as hot.

BTW - this is my first Brockway (please don’t hurt me) and I’m really enjoying it.  But I guess that was a given...*g*

And I totally forgot to answer the question.  I have to go with J and say Han Dolo.  I’ve never seen any of the prequals simply because without Han, what’s the point?

Sorry, I’d take Gerard Butler any day. He can do a wide range of roles. From the dark Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, to the silly young man in One Last Kiss, to the recovering alcoholic in the Jury and now to the Spartan King in 300 he is a great actor and a superior human being.

I so did not picture Bill Murray as Steve Jaxx. But now he seem perfect. I also love Bill Murray.

Hi, rugosa,

I don’t know Gerard Butler personally, therefore can’t comment on his superiority or inferiority or that of Bill Murray (rumors say he can be unpleasant) I’m not infatuiated with the actor, I’m infatuated with the ROLES certain actors do well.

I like so many of the roles Bill Murray chooses. I love his damaged, comic CHARACTERS. Somehow I don’t see Gerard Butler playing the groundskeeper in Caddyshack just like I don’t see Bill Murray playing The Phantom.

Of course, like all things, taste run to mood. Tomorrow I may be in the mood for Clive Owen’s craggy face and dead-eyes.

I have had a crush on Bill Murray since I was a little girl. He is just so fun to watch!

I’ve always thought Steve Martin was sexy!  He was gorgeous in black and white in DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID.

terrio.. there isn’t much of one hahaha… they are not the same without Han!

Okay, I like Bill Murray.  Like all his movies and think he is hilarious.  But I, like you, terrio, would have a hard time reading a book and picturing him as leading man material.  Sorry!

Now, Alan Rickman.  He can eat crackers in my bed any day of the week!

"I guessed right,” she said smugly.

From the minute I read Connie’s post mentioning an actor in connection with Steve Jaax, Bill Murray’s was the face I saw. I have been a fan of Murray’s creation of character since his SNL days as Todd DiLamuca. Even in his comic roles, he suggests deep sadness. I think he is unequaled in playing the selfish jerk I want to slug until he allows me to glimpse the loneliness, desperation, and vulnerability within, then I want to hug him.

I think he has done some of his best work with Wes Anderson, Connie—not just The Life Aquatic but also The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore (my favorite Murray film). I love Groundhog Day too, and Scrooged I have watched once a year since 1988. But Broken Flowers may be the movie most worth studying to understand the fascination Murray’s characters have for women. In a Guardian interview several years ago, Murray acknowledged his own loneliness and called such an admission “the great taboo.” Maybe it is that loneliness that filters through his characters and the resulting fantasy that we could ease it that makes some of us find him appealing.

I like Bill Murray, more now than in his earlier days though I do like Groundhog Day and Scrooged is a favorite.  I’ve never seen Broken Flowers.  I’ll have to give that one a try.  Like others, he did not come to mind while reading Hot Dish but now makes perfect sense. 

Great blog, Connie!

Terrio, I’m willing to bet this won’t be the last Brockway book you read!

Rufus Sewell. He always plays either villians or anti-heroes, but he always is so sexy! LOVED his character in Tristan & Isolde.

Oooh, Steve Martin. AND Hans Solo!!

All right, someone mentioned Pirates of the Carribean, but I don’t think anyone said Captain Jack Sparrow - the antihero to beat them all! He’s selfish, arrogant, a reprobate, a criminal, a drunkard, a theif and a liar. He doesn’t care how many people he gives up to save his own filthy hide, and yet he still ends up pulling off some of the most heroic stunts. He had my heart from the moment in The Black Pearl when Elizabeth faints in her corset and falls into the sea and he looks at the two seamen detaining him and says “Will you be saving her, then?” before diving to rescue her. What a great scene!

Another of my favorite literary antiheroes is the character of George from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. He’s intelligent, wryly funny and so gentle. You can sense his personal heartbreak emanating from him, and you can still see the tenderness he shows his wife, even though they are constantly fighting, even in the shambles that their marriage has become. He’s a very compelling character, though he’s bullied and browbeaten by his wife and controlled by her father.

I’m one of the many attracted to Alan Rickman as Snape in the Harry Potter movies. Primarily because, well, he’s Alan Rickman, but also, Snape is so sinister, so sour and vindictive, which hints at past disappointments. He’s a bit of a nerd, too. I wouldn’t mind being his star pupil, if you know what I mean.

Oh, Captain Jack Sparrow is the PERFECT antihero.  He gets my vote.

Showing my age ....  How about Lee Marvin in ‘Cat Ballou’?  He is about as anti-hero as you can get.

karen

Trust me, Terrio, when I say that Steve Jaax is HOT!

There’s just something about Jack Nicholson that is sexy to me.  I’m probably in the minority on that.  To me, he has a great antihero aura about him.  He always seems like he really doesn’t want to feel compelled to do the right thing, but then is.  Like in “As Good as it Gets.” He helps the waitress’ kid, but has a selfish motive, too.  Love him!

Sarah in Aggieland,

It better be!  Cuz I’ll get rid of Showtime (after that Henry VIII miniseries in the spring) if they don’t have another season of Dexter.

Connie said: That’s the magic of Bill Murray’s acting. He makes you like the unlikeable, see in the petty something worth salvaging…”

My son has a terrible singing voice. He can’t hit a single note and he is VERY loud.  Like a foghorn. The kid once got a standing ovation in a karaoke bar when he sang the lines “what would you do if I sang out of key? Would you stand up and walk out on me?” Because he was that incredibly BAD! So, I have to admit that I was surprised. No make that astounded, when I was told by my son that the choir director wanted him to sing a solo in the school Christmas pageant. OMG! A lot of things crossed my mind. Stuff like is she deaf? Is She on Drugs?  I was very skeptical about Anyone actually Wanting too hear my son sing. So I called the woman up. “Yes,” she said “we need a voice that will carry…” Oh my DS’s voice carried all right. Dogs in the next county would start to howl when the kid started to sing.
My son thought that “singing” in public would be embarrassing. But Not singing would label him a coward. Which was just as bad.  My kid was in junior high and he desperately wanted to avoid making a Social Blunder. 
What was a mother to do?

I gave my son the best advice that I could think of. The Only advice that I could think of. I told him…to sing his solo like Bill Murray! 
And…
It worked! My son sang his solo horribly off key, loud, but sincere. The audience loved it. Thank You.  Thank you Mr. Murray! You are an Inspiration and the Anti-Hero that I love the most .