Mr. Murray last popped up in 2010 with a role in the indie flick, Get Low, which required very little publicity from the actor. Prior to that, he made a cameo appearance in Zombieland and was the voice of Clive Badger in Fantastic Mr. Fox. Despite minor parts in a few films, his last major role was in Broken Flowers in 2005.
The January trailer for Moonrise Kingdom promised the return of the actor this summer.
Since then, he made a splash at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival where he mugged for the paparazzi with his own DCC Leica M3.
He even sat down with Esquire in a rare profile to discuss almost everything including:
His elusiveness as an actor:
"It's just practical for me. When the phone started ringing too many times, I had to take it back to what I can handle. I take my chances on a job or a person as opposed to a situation."
Stand-up comedy:
"I saw them work, and they seemed so unhappy. If an audience didn't like them, they'd get so miserable about it. It looked too miserable."
Fatherhood:
"If you bite on everything they throw at you, they will grind you down. You have to ignore a certain amount of stuff. The thing I keep saying to them lately is: 'I have to love you, and I have the right to ignore you.' When my kids ask what I want for my birthday or Christmas or whatever, I use the same answer my father did: 'Peace and quiet.' That was never a satisfactory answer to me as a kid — I wanted an answer like "A pipe." But now I see the wisdom of it: All I want is you at your best — you making this an easier home to live in, you thinking of others."
And Emma Stone:
"I love that Emma [Stone]. Just a doll."
He can be seen perfecting his slow motion walk in the new (fake) movie trailer for Les Cinéastes. Created by David Walton Smith nearly a year ago, the clip just went viral this past week thanks to Reddit.
Mr. Murray's last role of the year is Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Hyde Park on Hudson. With a December release date, there's no doubt the movie will be an Oscar contender.
What's next for the actor? He told Esquire:
"I've been sent a few things I didn't really care about. But there's one thing I've gotten phone calls about. The script hasn't come yet. I said: 'Don't FedEx it. Send it regular mail. Don't waste your money.' But now I'm really wanting it, and it's not here."
So until anything is confirmed, 2012 may be the last we see of the actor for a long while.