Jennifer Coolidge on Why Working With Bill Murray Was ‘Scary As Hell,' Recalls Pete Davidson Being a ‘Laugh Riot'
Coolidge may not be in the latest season of 'The White Lotus' following Tanya's death in Season 2, but ahead of the release of 'A Minecraft Movie,' she's back in a murder-related story with 'Riff Raff,' marking the first time she's worked with veteran actors Ed Harris and Murray.
More from Variety
Bill Murray 'Wept Three Times' During 'SNL50': 'It Was Surprisingly Emotional' and 'I Couldn't Stop'
Bill Murray Slams John Belushi Biography as 'Criminal' and 'Cruel'; Calls Out Author Bob Woodward: 'If He Did This to Belushi, What He Did to Nixon Is Probably Soiled For Me'
Bill Murray Recalls 'Tough Nut' Gene Hackman Being 'Really Rough' on Wes Anderson on 'The Royal Tenenbaums' Set: 'I Sympathize' Because 'To Him, Wes Was Just a Punk Kid'
In the darkly comedic film that follows an awkward, crime-ridden family reunion, Coolidge plays the hilarious Ruth, who unexpectedly reconnects with her former criminal ex-husband Vincent (played by Harris).
Out of the entire cast, Coolidge was most surprised by Murray's turn as the violent Leftie.
'I've never seen Bill go that dark,' Coolidge tells Variety. 'Obviously, he has so much to offer that he can pull off playing this extremely dark, messed up person. Weirdly, it was scary but I couldn't stop laughing, I was even ruining some of the takes. He's weird and titillating at the same time. It's unusual.'
While the film's cast is filled with veterans who have worked in film for decades, it also features actors like Pete Davidson, who continues to build his resume on screen. Coolidge says that Davidson was a 'laugh riot' on set and recalls the memorable time he braved the snowy weather.
'One day, we were in this house at the top of a very snowy hill in New Jersey,' Coolidge says. 'It was freezing, in the middle of nowhere, but I look out the window and I see this Rolls-Royce coming up the hill. I'm like, 'First of all, how can they be going up the hill without sliding backwards?' They're such heavy cars. And then I looked and saw Pete behind the wheel. He's always doing his own thing.'
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More
What's Coming to Disney+ in March 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Playing Gracie Darling's Morgana O'Reilly on how The White Lotus changed her life
The New Zealand actress shares why she thinks she landed the role of Pam on The White Lotus and how it has impacted her career since. Her new series, Playing Gracie Darling, premieres August 14 on Paramount+. Video transcript Well, actually, I hope this doesn't come off as egotistical, but I was like, I, I, before, actually, part of the reason why I think I got White Lotus is because a year or so before that, I'd sort of come to this thing and you, you hear it with other actors in interviews about their careers, where they, the moment they realised they really had to be them, right? Like some sort of variation of that story where they realised that it was just about being authentically them, and that they were so over just trying to be something for everybody else, that I had come to this point where every audition I sent, I was like, well, you'd even though I don't always believe this sentence, but I say it to myself, you'll be lucky to have me, you'll be lucky to have me, you'll be lucky to have it. And this is what I would do. If you hired me, this is my version, instead of, I wonder what they want. Maybe I should be this, that, the other thing. And so, I feel like I had already, I'd just come to that kind of self what is it? Awareness or like comfortability, authenticity. And I reckon that's part of the reason why Mike White loved the audition so much is because it was just like, well, here's, here's my version. Yeah. And I and then, so after getting White Lotus, what's really nice is now more people believe that too. So, um, so I can get some respect, finally. It's about time, honestly. About time. Oh my God. Oh, you slog it out. I know sometimes I look back and I go, if my drama school self, if I could go back and talk to my drama school self and imagine if I, I don't know what she would say if I could sit down and say, you're gonna, you're gonna do this and you're gonna do that and you're gonna do this, and it's gonna be amazing. Um, but your, the biggest leap will happen in 18 years. Can you, can you hang in there?
The Verge
2 hours ago
- The Verge
Inside and outside Alien: Earth's huge sets.
Posted Aug 14, 2025 at 12:51 AM UTC Inside and outside Alien: Earth's huge sets. Charles already declared Alien: Earth 'one of this year's strongest new shows,' so I wasn't shocked by how much I liked its debut. I was surprised by the scale of its sets, and this featurette has more detail about how they managed that by filming outside in Bangkok. Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates. Richard Lawler Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Richard Lawler Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Disney Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Entertainment Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Hulu Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Streaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All TV Shows
Forbes
3 hours ago
- Forbes
Disney Reveals ‘Elio' 4K Blu-Ray Details—Including Hours Of Bonus Features
Disney has announced that Pixar's latest film, Elio, is set to arrive on 4K Blu-ray on September 9, featuring a premium video and audio presentation, a promising-sounding set of bonus features, and lovely steelbook packaging. Elio, which follows the adventures of a boy whose contact with aliens sees him whisked away on an intergalactic adventure that both expands his horizons and teaches him about the importance of connections with loved ones back on Earth, recently came to the end of what was by Pixar's usual standards a rather disappointing cinema run. So Disney will be hoping there's plenty of pent-up demand for the film on home video from families and Pixar fans who didn't make the trip to see the film at the cinema. The studio certainly seems to have put some effort in to making Elio on 4K Blu-ray something children and physical media collectors alike will want to own. For starters, in the U.S. Elio will exclusively be available in a beautifully designed limited edition Steelbook package that will include the film on HD Blu-ray as well as the 4K disc. The 4K Blu-ray will feature the film mastered in the Dolby Vision format, with extra scene by scene picture information is provided to help compatible TVs deliver punchier, more accurate visuals. Its soundtrack will be available in a Dolby Atmos mix, too, that builds a hemisphere of sound around and above the viewer for the ultimate in movie immersion. Note that the Dolby Vision video will default to the more basic HDR10 format (minus the scene by scene information) if the Elio 4K Blu-ray is played on a TV or 4K Blu-ray player that doesn't support Dolby Vision. Disney's initial press information on the Elio 4K Blu-ray suggests that the film is going to appear on a high-capacity 100GB disc, despite its modest 98-minute run time. This would be very surprising given Disney's usual preference for 66GB discs, making me wonder if Disney has repeated the mistake it made when it claimed that Master & Commander: The Far Side Of The World was going to be mastered to 100GB disc. While I await an answer to my request for confirmation on this point, though, I'll take Disney's initial information at its word and look forward to seeing how uncompressed Elio might look with so much disc space to play with. Those hours of extra features provided with the Elio 4K Blu-ray package, finally, include everything from art classes and a gag reel to five deleted scenes and a collection of 'Easter Eggs' and fun facts, with the full collection looking like this: * Inside the Communiverse: The World and Characters of Elio – In-depth behind the scenes look with multiple cast and crew at the design and development of Elio's main characters and environments. * Out of This World: An Astro Q&A – Voice actors Yonas Kibreab (Elio) and Remy Edgerly (Glordon) meet with a real-life astronaut to discuss space travel, possible alien life on other planets, and why it's important to study space. * Astronomic Art Class: Ooooo and Glordon – Join Nicolle Castro, the lead story artist, as she shares her role on the film and guides viewers through drawing the film's Ooooo and Glordon characters. * Extraterrestrial Easter Eggs and Fun Facts – Uncover the references and characters from some of your favorite Pixar films hidden throughout Elio, along with other fun facts. * Galactic Gag Reel – Visit the recording booth with Elio's voice actors. * Deleted Scenes – Five scenes that didn't make it into the final movie. While I can't describe exactly what these deleted scenes are about, or why they were deleted, Disney's press information does at least give each one a title. Namely: — Related Reading Disney Celebrates 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' 50th Anniversary With New 4K Restoration For Cinema And 4K Blu-ray 'Jurassic World Rebirth' 4K Blu-ray Details Revealed—Including Hours Of Bonus Features 'Ballerina' 4K Blu-ray Details Revealed—Including Multiple Steelbook Editions
