Christmas came early this year. Bill Murray is officially teaming up with Lost In Translation director Sofia Coppola for a Netflix holiday special. A Very Murray Christmas, written by Murray and his BFF and Magic City writer Mitch Glazer, is said to be "an homage to the classic variety show featuring Bill Murray playing himself, as he worries no one will show up to his TV show due to a terrible snow storm in New York City."

Somehow we doubt the audience will be a no-show. In fact, according to reports, the guest list is looking pretty dang A-list and exhaustive: Miley Cyrus, George Clooney, Amy Poehler, Michael Cera, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph and Jason Schwartzman are all scheduled to appear on the programme, which will hit Netflix in December.

It's a most likely a coup anyone managed to pin Murray down for this. There are 1001 stories about trying to get a hold of the famously agentless Murray. The most passed along of these stories is perhaps the wrangling Sofia Coppola did to get him on board 2004’s Oscar-nominated Lost in Translation. Coppola blitzkrieged his answering machine with hundreds of messages. She then enlisted the help of her famous father, Francis Ford Coppola, to get a hold of Murray. It didn’t work.

She cold-called Al Pacino – having heard he lived in the same region as Murray – in the hopes that he may come across his neighbour. Eventually, Sofia met Mitch Glazer, Murray’s “best friend”. He put her in touch, and despite his love of the story and a verbal agreement to star, Coppola didn’t bank on him joining the cast until Murray showed up the first day of production in Tokyo.

We've already seen Murray as a festive tyrant in Scrooged, and this teaser sees a reluctant-looking Murray back on form – undoubtedly the best way to spend the holidays after you've emptied that bottle of sherry.