How much research did you do for the movie?

Tim Robbins: I dug a hole, and I went inside of it. A very deep hole. A very deep hole. And then I covered myself. And, yeah, I had a little light. And then I waited till the light was extinguished, and then I had it all right there. [Laughs] Sorry, I went for the humor.

Saoirse Ronan: I don't know. It's kind of one of those characters; I don't think you can really research somebody who is buried underground, who lives underground. And, obviously, nobody here would have experienced that. So I think it was one of those characters where you just have to do it in the moment. And as long as I had [The Director] Gil [Kenan] there, I was fine, you know? And he was, like, my research guide, if that makes sense.

Bill Murray: I did a little research. I found that the book was a book that kids in America read in school now. They read it in middle school. And when I told my sons I was going to be in The City of Ember, they said, "Oh! You're going to be the Mayor?" And I hadn't even read the script or the movie yet. And I thought, "They already know what's being spoken about, and I don't." So when I read it, I read it from their point of view.

I tried to think of what they made of what this guy was, what this mayor was [in] the book and the script. And I think to the degree that a mayor can be a father figure who can disappoint you. I'm a father figure, and I've probably disappointed on occasion. I thought, when you're most disappointed is when you talk the talk and you don't live up to it. And that's pretty much what this guy did. So I felt as long as I was really, really successful in talking the talk, that the disappointment would be there, just like a gasp.

The mayor seems to be eating every other time we see him. And primarily we saw him slurping on a lot of (really big) sardines from cans. Did you have to suck down all that food? Did you enjoy it?

Murray: I'm not really a sardine guy. I do like caviar. I do. And I like eggplant. And I can eat copious amounts of caviar and a fair amount of eggplant. This was the most sardines I've ever eaten in my entire life. And I associate sardines with being these little things. These were [makes a face stretches out his hand] serious sardines, this big.

Ronan: They were!

Murray: These were.

Robbins: You don't get a stunt eater?

Murray: I got no stunt pay whatsoever. It was a lot. It was a lot of sardines, more than I've ever had. It got kind of funny.

Did you perceive a correlation or metaphor in the film to our current situation now?

Murray: Tim could you take this one?

Robbins: No I already took that one [Laughs].

Murray: Well you certainly feel it. It came up today: is this movie like what we are living through now? Is it intentionally written to be like what we're going through now? To be fair, you don't want to accuse a writer to be intentionally mirror-like or being metaphorical about your current situation.

But I think what it is, is the same combination of problems happened in that world, that happened in our world. Whatever your intention is, you're still going to encounter a lot of the same difficulties. So whether you say it's a movie about preserving our environmental resources — well no, not necessarily.

I think it's about a person who finds a way to survive in spite of all that's around them. They find their personal will and kind follow their will and their spirit to emerge from a difficult situation. And on on the way to that, you encounter this ecological consideration that we have: "How am I going to live my life? Am I going to live my life like this? Is behaving as an eco-creature going to help me serve my spirit? I think it was inevitably coincidental, but I don't think it was intentional. When you go on this search, seeking your own personal answers, you're going to encounter those things.

Talking about how much fun it was to play the bad guy in Ember (and how surprisingly easy it was to be evil) Murray joked with reporters that he would only come back to Ghostbusters 3 on one condition:

Only if I can play an evil person. No, it's all about the script. It's not like I have an obligation to the franchise or anyone. If the script were good and I thought we were going to do it. No one's ever talked about doing the third one because the second one was the way that it was.

When I poked and prodded more to see what kind of man Murray thinks Venkman is now (is he divorced, does he have kids, what about the show?) he replied sweetly and ever so roundaboutly.

I am Venkman, so here I am. As far as the movie goes. Let's see what these fellows come up with. I don't want to program them, I'm sure I couldn't. Let's get a new take on it. In the sequel there was Venkman and he was sort of not really the father of the kid of his old girlfriend. Like "who invented that one," that's not the way I think. That serves the special effects writers.

But as we all now know the taste of slime from Ghostbusters 2 left a stank taste in Murray's mouth. But he's singing the praises of the The Office scribes that are taking on this flick.

I think it's a great idea that they hired these two guys to do it. Because I think it could be a fresh look at it and it could be funny. When we did the sequel it was rather unsatisfying for me, because the first one to me was the goods. It was the real thing. The sequel, it was a few years later [and] there was an idea pitched. They got us all together in a room and we all just laughed for a couple of hours and thought up a few ideas. So we had this idea. But it didn't turn out to be that idea, when I arrived on set. It was a whole different movie. And the special effects guys got their hands on it. It was just not the same movie. There were a few great scenes in it but it was never the same movie. So there was never any interest in a third Ghostbusters because the second one was so disappointing for me at heart. The third one could happen.

Oh to be a fly on the wall in that room when all the original Ghostbusters were pitching ideas for the sequel.

But until then you'll have to get your Murray fill from the underground steampunky village of The City of Ember in theaters on Friday October 10th.

The Mayor is for Hope, Change, Progress, Prosperity, Reform and Peace. I'm all on board with that platform — minus the change, because I fear that. In all honesty, I'd love to see Murray the Mayor get his own little debate against other fictional scifi leaders, like the Emperor or John Connor.

The Mayor celebrated his campaign at an subterranean dance party with his underground minions at the AICN Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX. The party took place in Longhorn Caverns. Figures, the one time I skip an underground dance party Murray shows up.