Picture of the movie New worlds: the cradle of civilization © Dorn Music
New Worlds, or Bill Murray’s wild musical and literary adventure
From Ghostbusters to The French Dispatch, Bill Murray has shown the scope of his talent in every range of acting. This evening, he unveils a new facet in Andrew Muscato’s film New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization. A Special Screening, this film captures a staggering live performance built on the actor’s love of literature and film music.
The story begins on a plane in 2013. Somewhere between New York and Berlin, Bill Murray meets the German cellist Jan Vogler. An instant artistic connection and the start of a collaboration. In 2017 they recorded the album New Worlds, a bridge between Europe and the United States, where Murray recites the texts of Hemingway and Whitman, among others, over Vogler’s performances of classical music. The duo also delightfully revisits three tunes from the musical West Side Story.
It would not have been right for the two men to deprive the public of a stage performance of such a unique project. They thought about how a performance would go, prepared an American and European tour, and welcomed other talents on their adventure: Mira Wang, the virtuoso Chinese violinist and Jan Vogler’s wife, and the talented Venezuelan pianist Vanessa Perez. “New Worlds: Bill Murray, Jan Vogler and Friends” was born and was met with acclaim wherever they went.
Athens and its mythical Acropolis marked the final stage of their journey. It was there one evening in June 2018, at Bill Murray’s request, that Andrew Muscato captured the grace, tenderness and good cheer of this performance. The documentary maker, known for his films on Muhammad Ali, took a flight to Greece and conceived of a special staging for this final performance. Now a part of Bill Murray’s team, the director would make use of all his talents up to the post production of New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization.
