The more we hear about Danny McBride and Walton Goggins’ new HBO comedy, Vice Principals, the more excited we get. Even the news that its two-season run would never expand beyond 18 episodes (by design) gave television aficionados hope that the pair’s show about two high school vice principals scheming for the top job would be excellent. After all, without any pressure from the network, the studio or any other outside influences hoping to squeeze out more dollar signs at the expense of the story, Vice Principals could very well be perfect. I mean, Bill Murray is in it for god’s sake.
Goggins learned first hand what to do and what not to do while working with the comedy legend, but as McBride relates to The New York Times, convincing Murray to play the outgoing principal was a literal walk in the park. “Literal,” that is, because the Eastbound & Down alum gave Murray a copy of the script while attending one of the latter’s Charleston RiverDogs baseball games. That’s right, folks — Mr. Powers secured the participation of the man, the myth and the legend at a ballpark:
After providing Mr. Murray with a copy of the script at a Charleston RiverDogs baseball game, Mr. McBride said, “The next day he emailed and was like, ‘I’d be very happy to play Principal What’s-His-Name.'”
A couple of things to take from this. First, since HBO hasn’t revealed the name of Murray’s character yet, here’s to hoping “Principal What’s-His-Name” is more accurate than it probably is. And second? These are the Charleston RiverDogs we’re talking about, the very team with whom co-owner and “Director of Fun” Murray celebrated during a champagne-drenched victory in June. If there was ever a time and a place that Murray and McBride would meet to discuss work, it’d be Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in Charleston, South Carolina. (Though it definitely helps that Vice Principals filmed in and around the Charleston area.)
(Via The New York Times)
