Bill Murray reunites with his Lost in Translation director Sofia Coppola

While it’s not yet clear if Bill Murray will take a role in the new Ghostbusters film announced this morning, we do know he’ll be back making a movie with his old mucker Sofia Coppola in the director’s new film On the Rocks. The two famously worked together on Coppola’s second feature, 2003’s Lost in Translation, in which Murray played a washed-up American actor on a trip to Tokyo, where he’s now more famous as the face of whisky commercials than his films.

On the Rocks will be the first film produced by Apple, who are working with on-fire American distributors A24 on the project (Hereditary, First Reformed, Eighth Grade and Mid90s are some of A24's well-regarded films from last year). Hollywood Reporter describes On the Rocks as a drama centred on a troubled father-daughter relationship, and it follows a young mother as she tries to reconnect with her playboy dad, played by Murray. Parks & Recreation’s Rashida Jones plays the daughter.

This news should be music to the ears of fans of Coppola and Murray, as Lost in Translation brought out the best in both. They have worked together once in the interim on knockabout Netflix comedy A Very Murray Christmas, in which Murray plays a version of himself who’s hosting a live TV Christmas special that looks to be heading for a disaster when a blizzard prevents his scheduled guests coming to the studio.

We’ve not seen much Bill Murray on screen recently. His last lead role was in the disappointing Rock the Kasbah in 2015, although he turned up in a cameo in the Ghostbusters reboot in 2016 and as the voice of a baseball-mad dog in Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs from last year. The lack of acting roles in recent years might be due to the fact Murray has been touring the world with a project with German cellist Jan Vogler, in which Murray sings and reads American classics; the tour included a barnstorming stop at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre in 2018.

This year is shaping up to be a banner one for the comic actor. As well as Coppola’s On the Rocks, Murray will also appear in Wes Anderson's latest, The French Dispatch, and Jim Jarmusch's zombie film The Dead Don't Die. Talking of zombies, Murray is also reportedly appearing in the sequel to Zombieland, presumably as a zombie after taking a bullet to the chest in the first film. We’re glad to have him back.