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Studio movies in the '80s

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Bill Murray and Quick Change
Michael Chapman Film-maker
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I met Billy and we hit it off and then he recommended me to Ivan, and I did Ghostbusters 2, and then Billy and a writer did a New York caper movie called Quick Change, and they were the kind of co-directors but... whatever. I had a certain amount to do with it, you know. But, again, I really like and respect and get along with Billy a lot. I know he has a reputation for being difficult, I mean; but, by God, he was never anything but an absolute gentleman and really nice guy. I mean, he's a complicated man, but a great, great talent, and always extremely kind and... and good to me, and we had a wonderful time working together. And Quick Change is again a movie that's a lot of fun, and... and it sort of slipped through the cracks. But, in fact, it's very funny. Really, really funny, and well worth seeing.

It's... it’s a New York caper movie taken from a book, not by Elmore Leonard but some New York equivalent of Elmore Leonard whose name I can't... Donald Westlake, one of those guys who writes slightly comic caper movies based in New York, rather than based in Miami and Detroit, like Elmore Leonard. And it's a very funny movie. It's about how it's easy to rob a bank, but it's impossible to get out of town, you know. They robbed the bank wonderfully and then the rest of the movie is desperately trying to get to the airport, and it's a howlingly New York movie. It's... it’s got wonderful, wonderful things in it. I mean, the cab driver doesn't speak any English, and the cab driver is Tony Shaloub. And he speaks a wonderful made up... kind of Arabic that he remembers vaguely from his childhood, and it makes no sense. And he is hilariously funny. And all sorts of people landed up funny. And they just get further and further into the morass of New York at night and they can't get to the airport. And they have a million dollars that they've stolen, wonderfully and brilliantly, you know. And it's a really very funny movie... very funny movie. That show was... there was a show done... I saw it on TV a while ago and I was howling at it, it was so funny. And then I did a bunch of other stuff with Billy. There for a while I was a sort of wholly owned subsidiary of Bill Murray. And it was... I remember it very fondly at that time because I had such fun with Billy and he, by and large, I mean... he's so bright, and so off the wall, and so unpredictable that, you know, every day is like this great comic invention when you're around Billy. It was great fun. Again, they were not artistically... or not necessarily Shakespeare, but... although Quick Change is damn good, I think, and really funny and well worth getting a DVD and watching.

Michael Chapman (1935-2020), an American cinematographer, had a huge influence on contemporary film-making, working on an impressive array of classic films including 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull', 'The Lost Boys' and 'The Fugitive'.

Listeners: Glen Ade Brown

British Director of Photography and Camera Operator Glen Ade Brown settled in Los Angeles 10 years ago.

He has been working on features, commercials and reality TV. He played an instrumental role in the award-winning ABC Family series "Switched" and is also a recipient of the Telly and the Cine Golden Eagle awards for Best Cinematography. He was recently signed by the Judy Marks Agency and is now listed in her commercial roster.

Tags: Quick Change, Ghostbusters 2, New York, Bill Murray, Donald Westlake, Tony Shaloub

Duration: 2 minutes, 41 seconds

Date story recorded: May 2004

Date story went live: 29 September 2010