Quirk Books: The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray A Critical Appreciation of the Worlds Finest Actor

The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray

A Critical Appreciation of the Worlds Finest Actor

by Robert Schnakenberg

• Available as an ebook
  E-Book ISBN: 978-1-59474-822-6
• ISBN: 978-1-59474-801-1
• Book Dimensions: 7¼ x 9
• Page Count: 272
• Release Date: September 15, 2015

He’s the sort of actor who can do Hamlet and Charlie’s Angels in the same year.

He shuns managers and agents and once agreed to voice the part of Garfield because he mistakenly believed it was a Coen brothers film. Bill Murray’s extraordinary career is rich with fascinating anecdotes, contradictions, and mystery, from his early success on Saturday Night Live and the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s (Caddyshack, Stripes, Tootsie, Ghostbusters) to his reinvention as a hipster icon in the early 21st century (in films like Lost in Translation and Moonrise Kingdom).

And now you can get your fill of Bill: part biography, part critical appreciation, part love letter, and all fun, The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray chronicles every single Murray performance in loving detail, relating all the milestones, yarns, and controversy in the life of this beloved but enigmatic performer. These pages are packed with color film stills, extraordinary fan art, and behind-the-scenes photography.

ROBERT SCHNAKENBEG’s previous books include The Encyclopedia Shatnerica and Christopher Walken A to Z (both, Quirk). He lives in New York City.

Quirk Books, of course, brought us The League of Regrettable Superheroes Half-Baked Heroes from Comic Book History which I reviewed here:

http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-league-of-regrettable-superheroes_16.html 

Murray on the cover photo basically shows what I thought when I heard about this book.  However, Quirk did okay with that last book so I thought I ought to give this a shot.

I have never understood this whole cult of personality (10 points if you get that music reference!) -Alan Moore, Warren Ellis in comics but in the wider world a whole field of poor actors, singers or people who are known for being known.  Now, William Shatner has branched out into music (don't push it!), comedy and a whole lot more that showed he had a wicked sense of humour and fun yet he could have just played it straight living off of having been Captain James T. Kirk in some sci fi series.

Bill Murray is an actor and comedian whose work I have enjoyed though many have said that he plays the same character in every movie -but is still funny! From conversations over the years I do know one thing: a lot of people are Bill Murray fans and some are quite..."intense"!

This book is made up of Murray quotes -some very funny- and information.  All the photos are, sadly, in black and white though, having gone over the book a few times the lack of colour seems to work.  Don't ask me why.  And Murray is a fan on the Nicholas Cage movie Con Air -though he has no idea why it made him laugh!  Well, for an action thriller the movie WAS full of tongue-in-cheek and plain outright humour -"Put..the...bunny...back..in...the...box" (you need to watch it).

If you know someone who is a Murray fan or completist when it comes to Murray trivia and books then you really cannot go wrong here. After all, as Murray says: "I like to say that they peaked with me, and it was all downhill after that!"

For buying or pre-ordering visit Quirk Books online: http://www.quirkbooks.com/book/big-bad-book-bill-murray