Geena Davis Recalls Bill Murray Being ‘Difficult’ on Set, Uncomfortable Exchange

Geena Davis is detailing a nightmare experience she had working with Bill Murray. The A League Of Their Own star recounts in her new memoir, Dying of Politeness, that she met Murray for the first time in a hotel suite where the Ghostbusters star allegedly had a massage device he wanted to use on her. The two stars appeared in the 1990 movie Quick Change, which he directed with writer Howard Franklin.

Davis, 66, wrote that she refused to let Murray, 72, use the massage device called “The Thumper,” but he insisted. She also wrote about Murray allegedly tracking her down in her trailer during production and yelling at her for being late. Many of their colleagues watched on as Murray continued yelling at the Oscar winner while she rushed to the set.

“That was bad,” Davis told The Times. “The way he behaved at the first meeting… I should have walked out of that or profoundly defended myself, in which case I wouldn’t have got the part. I could have avoided that treatment if I’d known how to react or what to do during the audition. But, you know, I was so non-confrontational that I just didn’t…” When The Times interviewer told Davis it sounded like she was blaming herself, she agreed. “There’s no point in regretting things, and yet, here I was regretting. And yes, exactly, it wasn’t my fault,” she said.

This was the first time Davis spoke publicly about making Quick Change, which was in production following her Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for The Accidental Tourist. Outside of the publicity tour they did for Quick Change, Davis said she has not spoken to Murray since making the movie with him.

“For publicity, I saw him after we made the movie, but other than that, I haven’t seen him or spoken to him,” Davis told PEOPLE. “I figure it’s sort of rather universally known that he could be difficult to work with. And so I don’t feel like I’m busting him in a way that will necessarily shock him. I think he knows very well the way he can behave.” Murray’s representatives have not commented on Davis’ allegations.

Other actors have publicly discussed inappropriate behavior from Murray. Last year, Lucy Liu recalled his “inexcusable” and “unacceptable” insults on the set of Charlie’s Angeles. When they were doing a scene together, Murray began hurling insults. “I was not going to just sit there and take it,” Liu said on The Los Angeles Times‘ Asian Enough podcast. “So, yes, I stood up for myself and I don’t regret it. Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there’s no need to condescend or to put other people down. And I would not stand down, and nor should I have.”

Earlier this year, Searchlight Pictures suspended production on Being Mortal, a new movie directed by comedian Aziz Ansari, over complaints about Murray’s behavior. Production is still on hold. This week, Puck News reported that Murray paid a woman a $100,000 settlement. The woman was reportedly “horrified” by Murray’s actions, which she interpreted as “entirely sexual.”

“I did something I thought was funny and it wasn’t taken that way,” Murray told CNBC in April. “The movie studio wanted to do the right thing so they wanted to check it all out, investigate it and so they stopped the production.”