After making it in the industry, actors will have the chance to take on roles of all sizes, and this could lead them to being in a project they regret. It’s hard to tell how things will shake out from the outside looking in, and performers saddled with a bad experience won’t get the chance to do it again.

During the 2000s, Bill Murray voiced the iconic Garfield on the big screen, and thanks to some shots taken at the movie and being vocal about his bad experience bringing it to life, it certainly seems like Bill Murray regrets his decision to play the character.

Let’s see what he’s had to say about playing Garfield.

Murray Voiced The Iconic Garfield

Bill Murray Garfield
Via pinterest.com

Bill Murray is a legendary performer who has been a face in entertainment for decades. Murray has played a number of interesting characters through the years, and during the 2000s, Murray signed on to play the iconic Garfield, and this certainly caught people’s attention.

Murray’s delivery style certainly seemed like a good fit for the character, but it still seemed odd to some that Murray would take on this type of role. Turns out, Murray thought that he was signing on to work with Joel Cohen and barely read the script.

When speaking about why he took the role, Murray said, “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 f****** driveway for that kind of money,’” he continued.

Despite not working with Joel Cohen as he imagined, Murray still voiced the character and helped propel the films to success.

Related: Bill Murray Is Living His Best Life During Quarantine

The Films Had Success

Bill Murray Garfield
Via tribute.ca

In the grand scheme of things, the Garfield franchise isn’t exactly regarded as a classic, but this does not mean that it didn’t find success on the big screen. In fact, both movies in the franchise found some degree of success.

Both films were released during the 2000s, and while they did make decent money at the box office, neither of these films received particularly good reviews. Despite the lack of love from critics, there was clearly something about these films that kept people coming back for more. Most would point to Murray’s performance as the primary reason why the films were able to succeed.

According to Murray, making these movies proved to be incredibly difficult. He opened up about the struggles with the material, saying, “So I worked like that with this gray blob and these lines that were already written, trying to unpaint myself out of a corner. I think I worked 6 or 7 hours for one reel? No, 8 hours. And that was for 10 minutes. And we managed to change and affect a great deal.”

The difficulty from the first film carried over into the second film, and clearly, it drew the ire of Murray, who would take shots at the franchise down the road.

Related: An Inside Look At Sofia Coppola’s ‘On The Rocks’ Starring Bill Murray, Rashida Jones

Murray Talked About Regretting The Role In ‘Zombieland’

Never one to shy away from voicing his opinion, Bill Murray has taken some shots at the Garfield franchise, most notably in the Zombieland franchise. This could have just been done in jest, but given his experience making the movie, we have to imagine that this came from a place of honesty.

Now, it should be noted that Murray did say that he regretted making Garfield in Zombieland, but again, we have to wonder if this was just a joke or if he was just taking an opportunity to express his actual feelings by masking it with comedy. All signs certainly point to Murray having a sour taste in his mouth from his time bringing the Garfield franchise to life.

At this point, it seems like most people have forgotten all about the Garfield films and have left them behind in the past. We imagine that Murray has done the same, along with a number of other unsuccessful projects that he has made over time.

Related: Colin Jost Spills The Beans To Jimmy Fallon... He Stole From Bill Murray's House

So, does Bill Murray regret making Garfield? It certainly seems so.

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