Bill Murray addressed rumors that he would appear in the third “Ant-Man” movie, “Ant-Man: Quantumania” — rumors that he started by saying he was in it — and has now clarified that he’s not “at liberty” to discuss anything about the film.
Murray appeared in an appropriately goofy interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Thursday night, where Kimmel pressed him on some recent comments he made to a German magazine about getting to know director Peyton Reed after working on a Marvel movie. Murray didn’t mention “Ant-Man 3” specifically, but we all got the gist, so Kimmel asked him directly if he is in fact in the upcoming movie.
“Well I’m not supposed to…um…I’m not supposed to say,” Murray said. He then went on to state the obvious: that Paul Rudd is in it and is playing Ant-Man, as are Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas. “But I am not at liberty to talk about it,” he added.
Murray did, however, tell his two “translators” sitting alongside him that he could slip the beans to them later. Despite being on a Zoom call, Murray couldn’t help but do a bit, appearing on camera in bizarre leg braces and recruiting not one but two translators to translate Kimmel’s questions into both German and Arabic.
“But we could talk about it when we eat dinner. I mean, unless everything’s closed. You two agree on a place,” the actor deadpanned.
Earlier this week, Murray was promoting Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” in Germany when the internet managed to translate his comments and determine what Marvel movie he was actually talking about.
“I made a Marvel movie recently. I’m probably not allowed to tell you, but whatever,” he said, according to translations of the interview. “Anyways, some people were pretty surprised why I decided on a project like this, of all things. But for me the situation was completely clear: I got to know the director, and really liked him. He was witty, humble, everything you want from a director. And with the cheerleader movie ‘Bring It On,‘ he had already made a film years ago which I think is damn good.”
Kimmel pointed out that — if Murray’s own rumors are true — this wouldn’t even be his introduction to the Marvel Universe, as he previously recorded a radio piece in which he played The Human Torch. The late-night host played a clip of that recording and asked if Murray remembered the job, to which he replied, “Flame on!”
The “Ant-Man: Quantumania” news is not the only rumor that Murray let slip recently, as he also told an international publication the name of Wes Anderson’s next movie: “Asteroid City.”
Check out the clip of Bill Murray on “Kimmel” above.