Bill Murray to Receive Rome Film Fest Lifetime Achievement Award

Bill Murray is set to receive the 2019 Rome Film Fest’s lifetime achievement award. Wes Anderson will present the Academy Award-nominated actor and comedian with the honor, as well as host a “Close Encounter” festival discussion with Murray.

Murray has appeared in every Anderson film since the director’s sophomore feature Rushmore (1998), creating memorable roles in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and Isle of Dogs (2018). He even cut Anderson an (uncashed) check for $25,000 when production funds fell short for a helicopter shoot in Rushmore.

Murray can currently be seen in Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die, and he is reteaming with Sofia Coppola, following their 2003 award-winning collaboration Lost in Translation, for On the Rocks, which is being produced by A24 and will be distributed by Apple. 

French filmmakers Olivier Assayas and Bertrand Tavernier and American writer Bret Easton Ellis are also confirmed to partake in “Close Encounter” discussions at the upcoming festival, while Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard will present his new documentary about legendary Italian tenor Pavarotti at the event, as well as participate in an onstage conversation.

The festival is set to have a wealth of retrospectives in the lineup this year. Shoplifters director Kore-eda Hirokazu will screen his wide body of work, as well as participate in a “Close Encounter,” and German master Max Ophuls (La Ronde, Lola Montez) will also have a career retrospective. 

There also will be a tribute to Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo (The Battle of Algiers, Burn!), one century after his birth. Rome will present a restored version of Kapo, Pontecorvo’s 1960 film about a young Jewish girl who leads an escape attempt from a concentration camp.

Additionally, the restored version of Fellini Satyricon, Federico Fellini’s visionary take on the Petronius’ classic released in theaters 50 years ago, will also debut at the festival.

The Rome Film Fest is set to run Oct. 17-27 at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, as well as in venues around the city.