It's September 1 now. That’s 114 days until Christmas, if you wanted to know. And definitely too long to have to wait to see Bill Murray in his next role, Sofia Coppola's A Very Murray Christmas. But if offerings from him have seemed thin on the ground, it's because the highly sought-after actor hasn't been taking a lot on. Especially, it seemed, when it came to the Ghostbusters franchise.

After a well-received sequel in 1989, Murray took years hesitating on reprising the role of Peter Venkman for a potential third movie. It was a delight to fans of both the films and actor, then, that a few weeks ago it was reported that Murray is involved with Ghostbusters 3. Just playing a new character. But why the sudden change of heart?

According to Vulture, it was knowing that two of his favourite female comedians were involved. Although he was never keen for the film to happen ("That’s true, I wasn't," he admitted), the addition of Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy — who he called “a great hope” — changed his mind.

“I like those girls a lot,” he said. “I mean, I really do. They are tough to say no to. And Paul (Feig, director) is a real nice fellow.”

But this total change of heart did not come easily. “I thought about it for a very long time,” he said. “Like, many, many months. No, that’s not right. I was seriously thinking about this for years, really. It kept eating at me, and I really respect those girls. And then I started to feel like if I didn’t do this movie, maybe somebody would write a bad review or something, thinking there was some sort of disapproval on my part.”

When questioned on the mysterious rumour about working with Jennifer Lawrence, Murray said, “That would be great. I really like her. I mean, I only know her a little bit, but I’d love to work with her.” So what have the two of them got in mind? Apparently, Murray simply grinned: “I can’t say just yet.”

We’d probably be willing to trade Ghostbusters for this collaboration to materialise in 2016.