Bill Murray to Sing Classic Christmas Carols in Upcoming TV Special

Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola

Craig Barritt/Getty(2); Stephen Lovekin

By Emily Strohm

@emablonde

updated 10/14/2014 AT 08:50 PM EDT

•originally published 10/14/2014 AT 06:45 PM EDT

Bill Murray belting out Christmas carols? Who wouldn't like the sound of that!

The actor is teaming up with his Lost in Translation director Sofia Coppola for an upcoming Christmas TV special where he'll put his vocal talent to work.

In a new interview with Variety, Murray shared details about this holiday project.

"It will have a patina style and wit to it," he says, adding, "It will be nice, it's not going to be live. We're going to do it like a little movie. It won't have a format, but it's going to have music and texture. It will have threads through it that are writing. There will be prose."

The pair clearly work well together. Their 2003 film, Lost in Translation, was a major success, nabbing the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, plus nominations for Coppola and Murray. The Christmas special seems like it may be a bit more light-hearted.

"My motivation is to hear him singing my song requests," Coppola said.