Wall Street Journal contributor Eric Kohn has explained how Bill Murray‘s Zombieland cameo came to pass. (Guys like Eric Childress are probably still having puppies over this, but the awareness of this cameo is everywhere. They need to man up.)

“‘It was originally scripted for several other people,’ director Ruben Fleisher says, mentioning Sylvester Stallone and ‘six or seven other people’ who passed on the role. When another actor dropped out at the last minute, Woody Harrelson called Murray. ‘It really came down to Woody making a phone call to his buddy and saying, ‘Hey, this is a really funny role. Do you think you would be up for it?'” Fleisher says. “Literally, like 48 hours before he was on the set, he agreed to do it. It was incredibly fortuitous that we ended up with the best possible person who could get that role.’

“Since there wasn’t much time for rewrites, Murray brought his own flair to the set. ‘There was so much improv,’ Fleisher says. ‘He was totally game for it and I think he had a lot of fun doing it. As a first-time director, it was a dream come true.'”