As he finally makes his directorial debut with Good Fortune, Aziz Ansari still hopes to revisit the scrapped project that was meant to be his first outing behind the camera.
Following the misconduct allegations against star Bill Murray that led to production on their movie Being Mortal being suspended indefinitely in 2022, the Golden Globe winner recently said he “would love to finish” the project.
“At some point, it’d be great to finish it. I have some of the stuff edited. There’s so much stuff in it that we’re all really proud of,” he told Entertainment Weekly.
Although plot details were kept under wraps, Being Mortal is based on the 2014 #1 New York Times bestseller by Dr. Atul Gawande, which tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending.
“I think we just have to wait and see,” said Ansari, noting that he has “a bunch” of projects he hopes to tackle in the future.
“I’m not sure what I’m gonna do next. But I would love to finish that,” added Ansari. “The project is something that means a lot to all of us, and it definitely comes up. Maybe there’s a world where we’ll finish it at some point.”
After Ansari set Being Mortal as his directorial debut in February 2022, also set to star alongside Murray, Deadline reported exclusively that April that Searchlight Pictures had suspended production following allegations of inappropriate behavior against Murray. It was later reported that Murray allegedly kissed and straddled a “much younger” female crew member.
Before the details of the accusation were revealed, Murray called the incident a “difference of opinion,” explaining: “I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way. The company, the movie studio, wanted to do the right thing, so they wanted to check it all out, investigate it. and so they stopped the production. But as of now, we’re talking and we’re trying to make peace with each other.”
“I really think that’s a really sad puppy that can’t learn anymore. I don’t want to be that sad dog and I have no intention of it,” added Murray. “What would make me the happiest would be to, you know, put my boots on and for both of us to go back into work and be able to trust each other and work at the work that we’ve both spent a lot of time developing the skill of, and hopefully do something that’s good for more than just the two of us, but for a whole crew of people, a whole crew of movie makers. and the movie studio as well.”
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