Just don't tie him down

Bill Murray plays commitment-phobic Don Johnston, and Sharon Stone one of his girlfriends.

American star Bill Murray has had enough of acting for now and wants to go back to the simple things in life - mowing lawns and reading books.

The 54-year-old comedian says by the end of his latest film - Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers, in which he plays the commitment-phobic Don Johnston - he was exhausted.

"Doing all those movies in a row, I didn't have anything left. At the end of Jim's movie I was empty, dry as a bone."

Murray described his experience shooting his previous film The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Wes Anderson's quirky comedy in which he played a latter-day Jacques Cousteau, as "a penitentiary sentence" because he was separated from his family for so long.

Though enjoying the film, he was surprised at how his time on set in Italy affected him.

"I was gone for so long it really sort of took me apart."

So instead of acting? "I'm really looking to cut lawns for the summer. I don't want to work at all," he said, adding that he intended to sit back, read books and play guitar and piano.

In Broken Flowers, Murray plays Johnston, who cannot commit to relationships and seeks to avoid awkward issues. But all of that changes when he receives an anonymous letter telling him he has a son he did not know about.

On the prompting of his detective-wannabe neighbour, he goes in search of the girlfriend from his past who could have been the child's mother, bringing him into often hilarious and sometimes violent contact with old flames and their families.

Murray said he knew enough about relationships and break-ups to play the part convincingly.

"Anyone who didn't marry the first person he kissed has had some experiences," Murray said. "Some people have had more experiences than others. I feel like I've had plenty enough to have played this part."

He described the part as one of the most challenging he has played because it relied so heavily on the reactions of his fictional girlfriends, who are completely different characters.

"When you go into that situation it's like bumping into an old girlfriend and you don't know how you stand with this person ... You don't want to go into any dark corners. You don't really want to know what's there."

Murray next appears in The Lost City, a film directed by Andy Garcia that portrays the fall of Havana, Cuba.


Lowdown


Who: Bill Murray in Broken Flowers by director Jim Jarmusch


When & where: Screening at Civic as part of Auckland International Film Festival Sunday, 8.30pm- REUTERS