“

Scott Raab: You want control?

Bill Murray: To the degree that I can get the things that want to control me out of the way, then there’s less stuff in my field of vision. Then I can work.

SR: A lot of folks worry that if they aren’t available or don’t say yes, they’ll stop getting asked.

BM: If you keep saying yes, they’ll stop asking you, too. That’s a much more likely event. I think we’re all sort of imprisoned by — or at least bound to — the choices we make, and I think everyone in the acting business wants to make the right choices. You want to say no at the right time and you want to say yes more sparingly. I came out of the old Second City in Chicago. Chicago actors are more hard-nosed. They’re tough on themselves and their fellow actors. They’re self-demanding. Saying no was very important. Integrity is probably too grand a word, but if you’re not the voice of Mr. Kool-Aid, then you’re still free. You’re not roped in.

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Bill Murray on control and saying no.

Read the whole interview via YMFY