23/08/2025
Bill Murray showed up on the set of "Where the Buffalo Roam" (1980) already deep into his portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson. He had spent weeks drinking Wild Turkey, chain-smoking Dunhills, and mimicking Thompson’s raspy slur until it almost overtook his own personality. It was not preparation for a role. It was immersion. He lived at Thompson’s Owl Farm in Colorado, sharing whiskey-fueled nights, shooting guns, and listening to Gonzo monologues that never seemed to end. By the time filming began, the boundary between actor and subject had blurred to a dangerous degree.
Murray later recalled in interviews that becoming Hunter was not easy to undo. During and after the shoot, he found it difficult to shake the persona. Friends noticed the change immediately. Even in casual conversations, his voice dipped into Thompson’s cadences, and his behavior mirrored the eccentric journalist's chaotic energy. Murray admitted that he did not break free from that mindset until after the wrap, and even then, it haunted him longer than he expected. The experience was both intoxicating and unnerving.
"Where the Buffalo Roam" (1980) fictionalized Thompson’s escapades through the lens of his alter ego Raoul Duke and his attorney, the wild and unpredictable Carl Lazlo, portrayed by Peter Boyle. The film’s tone oscillated between absurdity and manic intensity, much like Thompson’s real life. One of the most memorable scenes shows Murray’s Thompson barging through a hotel room with a briefcase full of narcotics, a bottle of bourbon in one hand, and a typewriter strapped to his back. The chaos intensifies as he bellows about Nixon, the DEA, and the decay of American journalism, all while trying to cover a story he never intends to write.
That scene was pure Gonzo theater, and it captured something no other film had dared at that time, the disorienting swirl of drugs, politics, and paranoia that defined Thompson’s work. Murray’s delivery was unfiltered, sweaty, and uncomfortably real. The film’s director, Art Linson, later said that Murray’s performance was so committed it often became difficult to separate acting from reality. At one point, during a break in filming, Murray wandered off set and fired a shotgun into the air, claiming it was what “Hunter would do on deadline.”
Behind the scenes, the film's production was as turbulent as the story it tried to tell. Linson clashed with Universal executives who didn’t understand the tone. The script changed constantly, and Thompson himself was unimpressed with the final product. He once said the film made him look like a “cartoon character,” although he remained fond of Murray’s performance. The two had bonded deeply during pre-production, once engaging in a wrestling match that ended with Thompson tying Murray to a chair and throwing him into a pool.
Despite the rocky critical reception, the film made a mark. It introduced mainstream audiences to a character who would later be portrayed again, most famously by Johnny Depp in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." But Murray’s version, raw and drenched in anarchic energy, holds a unique place in pop culture. It was less polished but more dangerous. It did not aim to please. It aimed to replicate the chaos of a man who never cared for rules.
For Murray, the impact lingered. It was one of the earliest roles that showed his range beyond comedy. In taking on Thompson, he explored the edge of madness, truth, and impersonation in a way that few actors dared in 1980. It was a performance that nearly consumed him but also proved his fearless dedication.
Murray did not play Hunter S. Thompson. He briefly became him.
