Bill Murray to star in Aziz Ansari's first film

Bill Murray will star in Aziz Ansari's directorial debut.

The 'French Dispatch' actor will appear in a currently-untitled film based on Atul Gawande's non-fiction book 'Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End' - which explores topics including end-of-life care and how medicine has changed over time - alongside the 'Master of None' star, who as well as appearing on both sides of the camera, has also written the script and will produce the project.

Searchlight Pictures are "thrilled" to be working with Aziz on the film, which will be released in cinemas some time in 2023.

The company's presidents, David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield, said in a statement: “Aziz Ansari is an incredible talent and, with this script, he brings a singular combination of insightful humour and pathos.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with him on his feature directorial debut which is long overdue, and of course working with the genius Bill Murray once again.”

Aziz is likely to have had time to write the script without any distractions because he recently revealed he has completely stopped using the internet and email.

He shared: "However many years ago, I kind of started turning off the internet and, you know, I deleted all social media and all this stuff, and I've slowly just kept going further and further. I stopped using email maybe like four years ago."

The 'Parks and Recreation' star described his decision to disconnect from social media and email as a "mental diet".

He added': "It all kind of ... it's almost like I kind of started thinking about, you know, everyone thinks about their diet and what they eat - at a certain point, it's also about thinking about your mental diet and what you're putting in your head.

"Whether it's like, oh, looking at the same four websites, constantly checking The New York Times 50 times a day. At a certain point, yeah, that's not really helping."

And he acknowledged that his decision had made him more productive.

He said: "I mean, look, I know all this stuff is like, oh yeah, I'm in a position where I can do that and have, you know, whatever certain privileges to be able to pull it off.

"An assistant or whatever - but all that stuff I do I think helps me get more done, kinda taking care of stuff or whatever, whether it's working out or meditating and all that kind of stuff."