A sequel to the 2009 zombie comedy ZOMBIELAND has finally reached theatres this month, with the first film's director Ruben Fleischer returning to helm ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP, which stars returning cast members Woody Harrelson, Jessie Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin. Even Bill Murray, who made a very memorable cameo in the first film (pictured above), came back to make a cameo in the sequel.
DOUBLE TAP isn't a project that just happened to come up ten years after the release of the first film. There were multiple drafts of the screenplay written during those ten years, and a failed attempt at taking the concept to television.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, ZOMBIELAND and DOUBLE TAP screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick revealed that they were always hoping to get Murray back for a second cameo, and in one of the earliest drafts they were going to use his cameo to make a mockery of reports that Murray's reluctance to participate was holding back the making of a GHOSTBUSTERS 3.
The idea was that
Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson got Bill Murray out on a golf course and were trying to convince him to do a sequel to Ghostbusters. Dan Aykroyd becomes a zombie and attacks Bill and there are golf carts going in the lake and golf clubs being swung at people."
The screenwriters mentioned to Uproxx that Joe Pesci also would have been in the golf course scene. Because, why not?
Bill was pissed off because, who was playing golf in the foursome ahead of him very slowly? Joe Pesci. So, Bill Murray hits the drive into Joe Pesci, basically past him. Joe Pesci is really mad, turns around, and is upset. So, they all hate Pesci."
The cameo idea changed over time, and the Ghostbusters reunion concept had to be set aside after Ramis passed away in 2014. In the final film, Murray's cameo plays off of a GARFIELD joke that was in the first ZOMBIELAND.
ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP is now in theatres. Aykroyd and Hudson are in the upcoming GHOSTBUSTERS sequel GHOSTBUSTERS 2020, and Murray is believed to be in there as well. That film is set to reach theatres on July 10, 2020.