Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut film “Being Mortal” is suffering production delays after a complaint was filed against star Bill Murray over inappropriate behavior. The specifics of the complaint are not known.

Deadline reported that Searchlight Pictures had no comment on the ongoing investigation. Ansari is writing, directing, and starring in the film, alongside Seth Rogen. Neither is named in the official complaint, which was filed last week.

Production on “Being Mortal” was officially halted April 18 and will remain suspended as the investigation continues.

Based on Atul Gawande’s nonfiction book “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” the film started principal photography March 28 and was reportedly halfway through production prior to the allegation against Murray. The film was set for a 2023 release date.

Oscar nominee Murray previously spoke out about workplace sexual harassment claims amid the #MeToo movement, warning perpetrators that justice has been issued “rather quickly” in modern times.

“If people are monstrous, it eventually comes back,” Murray said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in 2018. “We get justice, but we don’t get it when we want it.”

Murray also has openly admitted to knowing he “has a reputation” in Hollywood.

“I remember a friend said to me a while back: ‘You have a reputation.’ And I said: ‘What?’ And he said: ‘Yeah, you have a reputation of being difficult to work with,’” Murray recalled to The Guardian the same year. “But I only got that reputation from people I didn’t like working with, or people who didn’t know how to work, or what work is. Jim [Jarmusch], Wes [Anderson] and Sofia [Coppola], they know what it is to work, and they understand how you’re supposed to treat people.”

The “Groundhog Day” star continued, “People think because they employed you they’re allowed to treat you like a dictator, or whatever the worse word for dictator is. And that’s always been a problem for me. Opening the door for someone behind you is as important as designing a building.”

“Being Mortal” writer-director Ansari was also accused of sexual misconduct in 2018 after a date allegedly became inappropriate. Ansari addressed the allegations in his 2019 Netflix special “Aziz Ansari Right Now,” saying, “There’s times I felt scared, there’s times I felt humiliated, there’s times I felt embarrassed, and ultimately I just felt terrible that this person felt this way.”

Source: Read Full Article