Bill Murray says it was “surprising” he lost the Oscar to Sean Penn

And the Oscar goes to…Sean Penn. It was seven words that Bill Murray did not want to hear, as evidenced by his face at the Kodak Theatre on February 29, 2004. Of his fellow nominees Johnny Depp, Ben Kingsley and Jude Law, he’s clearly the one most affected by the envelope Nicole Kidman was holding. But more than two decades on, Bill Murray has a very different perspective on his Oscar loss.

Going into Oscar night, Bill Murray had a strong shot at taking home Best Actor for Lost in Translation, having won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and numerous guild honors. As such, he pretty much figured he’d be heading home with gold. “It was just – it was sort of surprising. I won every other prize for Lost in Translation so I just sort of thought I was gonna win because I won everything. Every single one. And then I didn’t on that one, so I was like, ‘Well…’” (Penn had also won the Golden Globe in the drama category, while Depp was victorious with SAG for Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.

Even with the devastating loss to Sean Penn for Mystic River, Bill Murray says missing out on the Oscar gave him a perspective he wouldn’t have otherwise had. “It was kind of good. I realized I had actually gotten sort of infected by wanting to win it, you know. That I had contracted a low-grade virus of the desire for more. I had it for about six months and it had to wear off. So I did learn a lesson from it that, if I’d won, I might not have ever seen.” The next year, Murray would star in Garfield: The Movie, so, yeah, lesson learned all right…

Lost in Translation would be the only time to date that Bill Murray was ever nominated for an Oscar, faring better with the Golden Globes, Independent Spirit Awards and, hell, even the Scream Awards. Sean Penn, meanwhile, had already been nominated for Best Actor three times and even won again for 2008’s Milk.

Do you think Bill Murray deserved to win the Oscar over Sean Penn? Which other Murray performances should have been nominated?

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