40 Facts About Groundhog Day That’ll Make You Want To Watch It On A Loop
In 1993 Groundhog Day introduced the world to one of the most eccentric annual traditions in America. The festival, held at the preposterously named Gobbler’s Knob, became beloved, as did its star attraction Punxsutawney Phil. But the movie itself also became a classic due to its remarkable balance of laughs and pathos. So here are 40 facts about the making of the film that will make you want to watch it on repeat.
Bill Murray’s turn as miserable weatherman Phil Connors is sublime. But director Harold Ramis originally envisioned Tom Hanks in the part. And he revealed in 2009 that Hanks turned it down because he felt his casting would mean the audience would simply be counting time until Connors became nice. Michael Keaton also said no as he didn’t fully grasp the script, but he later told Entertainment Weekly, “You can’t do it better than Bill Murray did it.”
Groundhog Day is famously set on February 2, with Pennsylvania in full winter mode. But according to Michael Shannon, who played Fred, the movie definitely wasn’t filmed in the winter. He told The A.V. Club in 2009, “It was shot during the summer, so they had taken over this town and covered it with fake snow, and everyone was walking around wearing down coats, even though it was 80 degrees outside.”
In 2009 Michael Shannon revealed an awkward interaction between him and Bill Murray. He told The A.V. Club that he saw Murray listening to Talking Heads on set and excitedly asked the star if he liked the band. Murray’s characteristically deadpan response to the obvious question was, “Yeah, I like the Talking Heads.” Shannon told director Harold Ramis he felt Murray didn’t like him and, to his horror, Ramis encouraged Murray to say sorry, which just made the embarrassment worse.
In 2014 Ned Ryerson actor Stephen Tobolowsky wrote a piece for Slate magazine praising Harold Ramis’ storytelling courage. He recounted how Ramis shot an expensive scene which took three days of hard work, involving Murray sporting a mohawk and wielding a chainsaw. In the end, though, he realized a simple shot of a broken pencil becoming whole again would do the job. So he cut the scene entirely.
