Dawn Images

The production of American comedian Aziz Ansari's directorial debut feature film Being Mortal was suspended after a complaint about actor Bill Murray's "inappropriate behaviour" surfaced. Searchlight Pictures has put filming on pause while it conducts an investigation into the matter.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio decided to pull the brakes on production after a complaint was filed last week to investigate the matter. A source close to the production told The Hollywood Reporter that director Ansari and producing partner Youree Henley are working with Searchlight to figure out the next steps. When the publication confirmed the complaints about "inappropriate behaviour" and asked Searchlight for comments, it said it doesn’t “comment on investigations."

Based on the Atul Gawande's 2014 non-fiction novel Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, the film adaptation stars Murray, Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer. The Parks and Recreation actor is not just the director — he also wrote the script and will play a role in the movie.

The details on the film adaptation are still under wraps but according to The New York Times Review of Books, Gawande’s book explores the concepts of death and ageing, and how the medical profession tends to mishandle both. Searchlight has previously described the project as being at the intersection of “insightful humuor and pathos.”

Being Mortal is not Ansari's first creative project, he also co-created and acted in Netflix series Master of None. The actor received Emmy nominations in 2016 and 2017 for his performance on the show, becoming the first South Asian to to get an Emmy nomination for a lead role. He also bagged an Emmy nomination in the Writing for a Comedy Series category.

Though Master of None was on the receiving end of criticism for misrepresenting Indian immigrants and "painting all Indians with the same brush", the show continued to prosper — even in the midst of sexual misconduct allegations against Ansari.