Although I'm an unabashed Danny McBride enthusiast, HBO's new series Vice Principals is looking great for numerous reasons, one of which happens to be the fact the comedy was able to convince Bill Murray to join the cast. Apparently, however, that was a feat easier said than done and it involved Danny McBride tracking the veteran actor around until he cornered him at a baseball game.
Here's exactly what happened. Danny McBride was assembling his all-star cast for Vice Principals, a cast which also involves Justified and The Hateful Eight's Walton Goggins. He apparently went all the way to a Charleston RiverDogs game in order to hand Bill Murray a copy of the script. Apparently, this weird, baseball-related location put Murray into the right frame of mind to want to take on the project. In fact, Danny McBride told the NY Times that he got back to him the following day, so the ploy obviously worked:
The next day he emailed and was like, 'I'd be very happy to play Principal What's-His-Name.'
There are so many questions I have after hearing this story. Murray owns part of the RiverDogs, so him being at the baseball game is not a huge surprise, but did McBride actually stalk him at one of these games? Or did he set up a meeting and Murray was like, "Why don't you come on down to this minor league baseball game and we'll talk it out?" Did they end up getting called out by the announcer? Do the good people of Charleston know who Danny McBride is? Regardless, the idea of Danny McBride slipping a script to Bill Murray at a baseball game gives me the chuckles.
While Danny McBride really went for it to get the person he wanted in the role, others may not have done so. In fact, in a recent interview, Vice Principals co-star Walton Goggins admitted he was so intimidated by Bill Murray that he hid from him for a short time on set. He eventually spoke to Murray, but the story is still pretty funny, if you want to check it out, here.
Vice Principals is Danny McBride's second comedy on HBO following the successful run of Eastbound and Down. While that series lasted for four seasons on HBO, Vice Principals is only expected to get a couple of seasons, so catch it while it lasts. The first episode premieres on Sunday, July 17 at 10:30 p.m. ET. You can find out what else is coming up this summer with our TV premiere schedule or catch Bill Murray in his Ghostbusters cameo, also this summer.
