I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that, after the drily wild Bill Murray SBIFF tribute evening on Friday night, I had a powerful hankering for La Super Rica’s enticing and famous #16, the Super Rica Especial (always my go-to). To start at the end… veteran critic Leonard Maltin’s virtual interview—officially called the “Maltin Modern Master” award — with the great American cultural icon Murray (what else to call him — a mere comedian, a mere movie star?) closed with the honoree briefly spinning off the rails. That’s why we love him. Or one of the reasons.
After director Sofia Coppola (whose work with Murray includes the timeless gem Lost in Translation and his currently Oscar-nominated role in On the Rocks), joined by her brother Roman, zoomed in for the ritual award-presenting duties, Murray deadpanned, “I’d like to say a few words before sentencing… it’s really an honor to receive the Maltin Milk award. When I heard I was involved in the award, I was taken by surprise, thinking that you had passed way. I had worked up so many nice things to say about you. But I was very happy to hear you were still alive. That’s my happy-sad moment.
“Like you, I had to get Sofia and Roman to sit in front of a computer for more than an hour. I’ll have to pay for that down the line. It’s documented, It exists. It’s not in the real world. It’s in the virtual world.”