Did it ever seem a little strange to you that Bill Murray ended up as the voice of Garfield in the 2004 big-screen adaptation? Voiced by the late Lorenzo Music, the lazy and loveable kitty has been very popular in TV specials and TV series, most notably Garfield and Friends. Garfield: The Movie was savaged by many critics but did earn nearly $200 million.
In an interview with GQ, Murray reveals that his role came about in part because he confused co-writer Joel Cohen with Coen brother Joel Coen. Here’s an excerpt…
Well, how about Garfield? Can you explain that to me? Did you just do it for the dough?
No! I didn’t make that for the dough! Well, not completely. I thought it would be kind of fun, because doing a voice is challenging, and I’d never done that. Plus, I looked at the script, and it said, “So-and-so and Joel Coen.” And I thought: Christ, well, I love those Coens! They’re funny. So I sorta read a few pages of it and thought, Yeah, I’d like to do that. I had these agents at the time, and I said, “What do they give you to do one of these things?” And they said, “Oh, they give you $50,000.” So I said, “Okay, well, I don’t even leave the ******* driveway for that kind of money.”
