16 Facts To Know About "Groundhog Day" If You Want To Stay In The Loop
Groundhog Day is a staple in comedic cinema, and one in a long line of Bill Murray classics. It was masterminded by Harold Ramis, and in the same fashion the movie plot repeats itself over and over again, audiences have watched this phenomenal film over and over since its release in 1993. As you can imagine, from behind the scenes of a comedy there's going to be amusing anecdotes, but this film also initiated a 20 year long fight between former best friends. Here's an insight into both.
And he had good reason to feel that way: Scooter bit him three times.
It was instead shot in Woodstock, Illinois, because it had a better look on camera. Because of this, Punxsutawney wouldn't let Punxsutawney Phil be in the movie.
Ramis, in 2009, said it was somewhere between 30 and 40 years, which is far less than the original script by Rubins which had Phil looping for 10,000 years. Either way, nobody knows how long Phil was tortured by the 6:00 AM wake up song, but any scenario seems horrific.Â
Murray didn't want to shoot the last scene (on February 3rd) until he knew whether or not he'd be wearing his pajamas. After a vote in the among the entire cast and crew was split, the assistant set director said the film would be ruined if Phil was shirtless in the end. Ramis took that as the deciding vote, and obviously it was the right choice looking back.
Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton both turned down the role of Phil. Hanks didn't want audiences to expect him to be too nice, and Keaton simply didn't understand the script. We're glad it worked out this way, because Murray absolutely nails it.
Bill Murray was listening to the band Talking Heads, a favorite of Shannon's, between takes. So, Shannon so this as an opportunity to strike up conversation. When he asked if he liked the band Talking Heads, Murray zinged him with a rebuttable about how dumb of a question that was, and Shannon knew it right away.Â
Even worse, when Harold Ramis heard about this he made Murray apologize. A secondary embarrassment for a dumb question.Â
It was her favorite in real life.
The film was shot between March 16 and June 10, 1992, so there was no snow on days that topped 80º the cast had to wear their winter attire as well. It's in the script!
The famous moment when Phil breaks a pencil only to have it reappear the next day unchanged. That was originally a montage of Phil giving himself a mohawk, repainting his room, and had messing around with a chainsaw to cause noticeable damage.
Her line was "Oh, let's not ruin it," but her South Carolina accent made ruin sound unclear to Ramis. They changed it to "Oh, let's not spoil it," instead.
“Just tell me—good Phil or bad Phil?†That's what Murray would routinely ask Ramis during filming.
One story recounts Ramis wanted it to come across as more romantic while Murray wanted it to be comedic. Others say Ramis wanted to focus on the comedy while Murray wanted it to be more philosophical than it was. Either way, the fact is that they disagreed and it let to some tension on set.
The original screenplay was written by Danny Rubin, who envisioned Phil living through February 2nd over and over, only to kill himself in the end (yet, wake up the next morning). It also had Rita stuck in the same endless loop.
Stephen Tobolowsky noted during shooting this scene that he though the people attempting to watch them film looked hungry. Murray decided to head into the bakery, buy up all the danishes and start throwing out to onlooking residents.Â