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Wikipedia

Groundhog Day (film)

January 01, 1970

Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Harold Ramis from a screenplay by him and Danny Rubin. Starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and Chris Elliott, it tells the story of a cynical television weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes trapped in a time loop, forcing him to relive February 2 repeatedly. The film also features Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Marita Geraghty, Angela Paton, Rick Ducommun, Rick Overton, and Robin Duke in supporting roles.

Groundhog Day
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHarold Ramis
Screenplay by
Story byDanny Rubin
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn Bailey
Edited byPembroke J. Herring
Music byGeorge Fenton
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$14.6–30 million
Box office$105 million

Rubin conceived the outline of Groundhog Day in the early 1990s. He wrote it as a spec script to gain meetings with producers for other work. It eventually came to the attention of Ramis, who worked with Rubin to make his idea less dark in tone and more palatable to a general audience by enhancing the comedy. After being cast, Murray clashed with Ramis over the script; Murray wanted to focus on the philosophical elements, whereas Ramis concentrated on the comedic aspects. Principal photography took place from March to June 1992, almost entirely in Woodstock, Illinois. Filming was difficult, in part because of bitterly cold weather but also because of the ongoing conflict between Ramis and Murray.

Groundhog Day was considered a box-office success on its release, earning over $105 million to become one of the highest-grossing films of 1993. It also received generally positive reviews. Reviewers were consistent in praise for the film's successful melding of highly sentimental and deeply cynical moments, and for the philosophical message beneath the comedy. It received multiple award nominations and won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. For all its success, the film marked the end of Ramis's and Murray's long collaborative partnership, which had produced films like Caddyshack (1980) and Ghostbusters (1984). After filming ended, the pair did not speak to each other until shortly before Ramis's death in 2014. The film was a showcase for Murray; he had previously been seen primarily as a comic actor, and his performance led to more serious roles in critically acclaimed films.

In the years since its release, the film has grown in esteem; it is often considered to be among the greatest films of the 1990s and one of the greatest comedy movies ever. It has also had a significant effect on popular culture: the term Groundhog Day, meaning a monotonous, unpleasant, and repetitive situation, has become part of the English lexicon. Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish scholars have analyzed the film as a religious allegory. Groundhog Day is also credited with having ushered in mainstream acceptance of comedy films with fantasy-genre elements. In 2006, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry. Groundhog Day was adapted into a 2016 musical, and inspired a 2019 video game sequel, Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son.

Plot edit

On February 1, television weatherman Phil Connors reassures his Pittsburgh viewers that an approaching blizzard will miss Western Pennsylvania. Alongside his new producer Rita Hanson and cameraman Larry, Phil travels to Punxsutawney for his annual coverage of the Groundhog Day festivities. He makes no secret of his contempt for the assignment, the small town, and the "hicks" who live there, asserting that he will soon be leaving his station for a new job.

 
A private home in Woodstock, Illinois was used for exteriors of the Cherry Street Inn, the fictional location in which Phil awakens every morning in the film.

On February 2, Phil awakens in the Cherry Street Inn to Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" playing on the clock radio. He gives a half-hearted report on the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil and the festivities. Contrary to his prediction, the blizzard strikes the area, preventing all travel out of Punxsutawney, and although he desperately searches for a way to leave, he is forced to spend the night in the town.

The next morning, Phil wakes once more to "I Got You Babe" and the same DJ banter on the radio in his room at the Cherry Street Inn. Phil experiences the previous day's events repeating exactly and believes he is experiencing déjà vu. He again unsuccessfully attempts to leave the town and retires to bed. When he awakes, it is again February 2. Phil gradually realizes that he is trapped in a time loop of which no one else is aware. He confides his situation to Rita, who directs him to a neurologist, who in turn directs him to a psychologist; neither can explain his experiences. Phil gets drunk with locals Gus and Ralph and then leads police on a high-speed car chase before being arrested and imprisoned. The next morning, Phil awakens in the Cherry Street Inn.

Realizing that there are no consequences for his actions, Phil begins spending loops indulging in binge eating, one-night stands, robbery, and other dangerous activities, using his increasing knowledge of the day's events and the town residents to manipulate circumstances to his advantage. Eventually, he focuses on seducing the sweet-natured Rita, using the loops to learn more about and manipulate her. No matter what steps he takes, Rita rebuffs his advances, particularly when Phil tells her he loves her; Rita asserts that he does not even know her.

Phil gradually becomes depressed and desperate for a way to escape the loop. He commits suicide in a variety of ways, even kidnapping Punxsutawney Phil and driving them both off a cliff. Each time, he reawakens on February 2 to "I Got You Babe". He eventually tries to explain his situation to Rita again, using his detailed knowledge of the day to accurately predict events. Convinced, Rita spends the rest of that day's loop with Phil; she encourages him to think of the loops as a blessing instead of a curse. As they lie on the bed together at night, Phil realizes that his feelings for Rita have become sincere. He wakes alone on February 2. Phil decides to use his knowledge of the loop to change himself and others: he saves people from deadly accidents and misfortunes and learns to play the piano, sculpt ice, and speak French. But regardless of his positive actions, he is unable to prevent a homeless old man from dying of natural causes.

During one iteration of the loop, Phil reports on the Groundhog Day festivities with such eloquence that other news crews stop working to listen to his speech, amazing Rita. Phil continues his day helping the people of Punxsutawney. That night, Rita witnesses Phil's expert piano-playing as the adoring townsfolk regale her with stories of his good deeds earlier that day. Impressed by his apparent overnight transformation, Rita successfully bids for him at a charity bachelor auction. Phil carves an ice sculpture in Rita's image and tells her that no matter what happens, even if he is trapped in the loop forever, he is finally happy because he loves her. They share a kiss and retire to Phil's room.

Phil wakes the next morning to "I Got You Babe", but finds Rita is still in bed with him and the radio banter has changed; it is now February 3. He tells Rita he wants to live in Punxsutawney with her.

Cast edit

 
 
Bill Murray (left) in 2018, and Andie MacDowell in 2017

As well as the main cast, Groundhog Day features Ken Hudson Campbell as the man in the hotel hallway, David Pasquesi as Phil's psychiatrist, and Richard Henzel and Rob Riley as the radio hosts waking Phil every morning. Hynden Walch and Michael Shannon portray the newly married couple Debbie and Fred. Les Podewell plays the homeless old man and Rod Sell appears as a Groundhog Day official. Director Harold Ramis cameos as a neurologist. Punxsutawney Phil is portrayed by a groundhog known as Scooter.[1][2]

Production edit

Concept and original draft edit

 
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (pictured) served as Danny Rubin's initial inspiration for the script.

The original idea for Groundhog Day came to writer Danny Rubin in 1990. He had moved to Los Angeles to work as a screenwriter. While waiting in a theater for a film to start, he was reading Anne Rice's book The Vampire Lestat (1985).[3][4][5] Rubin began musing about vampiric immortality and what one would do with their time if it was limitless. He reasoned that vampires were like normal people who did not need to adhere to ordinary rules or moral boundaries.[4][5] He questioned if and when immortality would become boring or pointless, and how a person would change over time, especially if they were incapable of substantial change.[4] He singled out men he deemed to be in arrested development, who could not outlive their adolescence.[4][5]

Having recently sold his first script for what would become the thriller film Hear No Evil (1993), his agent prompted him to develop a "calling-card" script that he could use to gain meetings with producers. Rubin began work on his idea of a man changing over eternal life, but quickly realized that the idea was impractical because of the expense of depicting historical and future events. At this point, Rubin recalled a brief story concept he had written two years earlier that followed a man who woke every morning to find it was the same day repeating. Rubin married the two ideas to create the outline for Groundhog Day. By portraying eternity as a repeating cycle instead of a straight line through history, he eliminated the production cost of constantly changing settings.[4] He believed that the repetition also offered him more dramatic and comedic possibilities.[5]

Rubin opened a calendar and picked the next nearest holiday, February 2, Groundhog Day. He saw it as a date with story potential because it was a recognized holiday without much widespread attention. Rubin believed that people were vaguely aware of the holiday, on which a groundhog predicts the coming of spring. Even so, he believed few people outside Pennsylvania were aware that the actual festival takes place in the small town of Punxsutawney, something he became aware of through a writing job for a local phone company.[4] Setting the story in Punxsutawney provided a small area in which to trap Phil Connors, while reporting on the event gave the character a reason to visit. Rubin took the main character's name from Punxsutawney Phil.[4] He hoped the film could become a perennial holiday favorite, like It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).[6][7][8]

Rubin spent eight weeks working on the story: seven making notes to define the rules and characters, and one writing the script.[4][5] He struggled to establish a cause for the time loop, considering technological, magical, and celestial origins. He considered these methods interchangeable and felt the cause was unimportant and could detract from the story elements he wanted to focus on. Rubin said that the lack of explanation made Phil's situation more relatable, as "none of us knows exactly how we got stuck here either."[4] He chose to begin the story in medias res, with Phil already caught in the time loop.[4] The first scene included Phil waking to "I Got You Babe," predicting the radio host banter and the actions of the hotel patrons, and attacking a pedestrian outside. Rubin thought this would intrigue an audience trying to understand how and why he is doing these things.[5] He chose "I Got You Babe" because it used a lot of repeating lines and was about love, which he felt were thematically resonant aspects.[9] He likened his original script to the 1949 British black comedy film Kind Hearts and Coronets, particularly the flippant way in which Phil's multiple suicides are shown.[4]

Rubin did not initially write the film as a broad comedy, considering it more whimsical. He found that the funnier elements were the easiest to think of; one of the earliest scenes he wrote was about Phil using his ever-increasing knowledge to seduce women.[5] Loops were also dedicated to Phil seeing how far he could get outside of Punxsutawney; inevitably, he was always returned to the town.[10] Even so, the script focused much more on Phil's loneliness. He breaks the loop only after realizing that there are other lonely people and that he can do good deeds to make them happier. Scenes in the finished film happened much earlier in Rubin's script, such as Phil driving over a cliff. The passage of time was also more distinct; Phil would track it by reading one page of a book per day, reaching his low point when he realizes he has run out of books. The original ending also featured a twist: Phil breaks his loop and then confesses his love to Rita. The perspective then becomes Rita's; she rejects Phil's advance because she is not ready for love and gets trapped in a loop of her own.[3]

Development edit

 
Director and writer Harold Ramis in 2009

Rubin's agent used the script to arrange meetings with producers; although it did not sell, the meetings generated other work for him.[4][5] In 1991, after his agent left the industry, Rubin distributed the Groundhog Day script in an effort to secure a new representative. It came to the attention of Richard Lovett at Creative Arts Agency.[5][11] Lovett said that he could not represent Rubin, but passed the script to his own client, Harold Ramis.[5]

By the early 1990s, Ramis had begun moving away from involvement in the anti-establishment and anti-institutional comedies, such as Caddyshack (1980) and National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), that had defined his earlier career.[7][11] While Ramis had successes in front of the camera and in creative roles like writing, his last directorial effort, Club Paradise (1986), had been a critical and commercial failure.[12][13][14] He wanted to direct an unusual project and was particularly interested in comedies about redemption and discovering one's purpose in life.[7][11] Rubin was aware of Ramis's previous work, having watched him in film and television.[4]

Ramis admitted that he did not laugh while reading Rubin's script. He was interested in the underlying spirituality and romance present, but thought it needed more humor.[12] The pair discussed the core ideas in the script, raising parallels between it and the concepts of Buddhism and reincarnation.[4] They also discussed whether it was ethical for Superman—a superhuman being with the power to save the lives of countless people and prevent disasters—to effectively waste time on adventures with his partner Lois Lane.[4][12]

Rubin's script became the subject of two offers: one arranged by Ramis through Columbia Pictures that would grant his project a higher budget, but at the cost of creative control, and a smaller independent studio that offered a lower budget of $3 million, but would let Rubin retain his original concept. Rubin chose to go with Ramis's deal. As expected, the studio wanted changes.[3]

Writing edit

Rubin admitted to becoming defensive about the studio's changes. He was concerned that they would remove what he saw as innovative plot points and turn it into a generic comedy film.[4] Ramis supervised the rewrite,[12] tasked with balancing Rubin's desire for originality and the studio's demand for a broad comedy.[3] The pair loosely used the Kübler-Ross model of the five stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—as an outline.[15][12] Ramis imagined himself in Phil's situation and the things he would do and feel if in the same cycle of entrapment.[12] The pair spent weeks revising the script.[6] Ramis suggested that Rubin's original ending, with Rita trapped in her own loop, be removed. He felt that audiences would dislike this as it offered no catharsis.[11][16] Similarly, he felt it was important to retain the story's darker elements, such as Phil's suicides, as these compensated for the necessary sentimental moments.[12]

Rubin delivered a fresh draft on February 2, 1991.[3] He was contractually permitted to write another draft, but the studio had Ramis take over, bringing Rubin's involvement to an end.[17] Ramis took Rubin's new draft and began his solo rewrite.[4][3] He found the sentimentality and sincerity completely opposed to everything he had learned to do as a comedian, and deliberately tempered the sweeter moments with a cynical and grouchy tone.[12] Ramis reorganized the script into a mainstream three-act narrative.[18] He emphasized Phil's smug attitude as a means of distancing himself from others, giving him a defined story arc as a classic comedic lead character deserving of his punishment.[7][11] Ramis liked Rubin's concept of starting with the loop in progress, but associate producer Whitney White suggested starting the film before the loop begins because she thought it would be more interesting for the audience to see Phil's initial reaction to his predicament.[19][20]

Ramis also removed Rita's boyfriend, Max, and introduced (then removed) Phil's executive producer, Gil Hawley.[21] This draft featured more scenes focused on Phil's sexual conquests[22] and removed some content deemed more mean-spirited, like Phil asking Rita to be his "love slave." The situation was reversed in the final version of the film, in which Rita buys Phil at the bachelor auction, claiming that she owns him.[21] Phil's journeys outside Punxsutawney were excised, as Ramis did not want the audience becoming too focused on what the rules of the loop were and felt that keeping the story within the town made it more claustrophobic.[23] Phil's expositional narration was removed as well.[4][20] Also excised were more scenes of Phil's later good deeds and the clever methods he used to prevent accidents while making the most efficient use of his time. For example, Phil puts a large rock in a road to stop a truck delivering fish, on which a restaurant patron would have later choked.[24] Where Rubin's original script had been more sermonic and deprecating, Ramis made the tone more optimistic.[19][11] Two versions of a scene with Phil and Rita in a diner from Rubin's original script (left) and Ramis's rewrite (right) exemplify the shift of emphasis toward both Phil's smugness and the romantic core of the film:[7][11]

It was Ramis's version that attracted Murray to the project, though Murray and Ramis immediately clashed over its tone. Murray wanted to focus on the philosophical elements; Ramis countered that it was meant to be a comedy.[3][11][21] The studio was happier with Ramis's draft, believing that his changes made it more appealing to audiences.[3] Columbia Pictures rehired Rubin to assess the script and provide notes. Rubin returned the script with pages of honest and sometimes sarcastic notes. In response, Murray recommended fully rehiring Rubin to assist on the script.[25]

The studio refused to greenlight the project without making explicit why Phil becomes trapped.[4][19] Producer Trevor Albert described a Columbia executive saying, "Why does the day repeat?... I like it... but I don't understand why he gets stuck in this loop."[19] Rubin had conceived of several causes for the loop, including a jilted lover placing a curse on Phil and a mad scientist's invention malfunctioning.[19] Albert and Ramis worked with Rubin to appease the studio, while agreeing to place the scenes too late in the shooting schedule to be filmed—and if forced to shoot it, to simply not include it in the film.[19]

As the conflict between Ramis and Murray continued, Ramis sent Rubin to work on the script with Murray; he believed it was the only way to stop Murray's constant early-morning phone calls. When Ramis called to check on their progress, Murray asked Rubin to pretend he was not there.[3][11] The pair visited the 1992 Punxsutawney Groundhog Day festival to get a better understanding of the event, remaining discreet and not revealing the reason for their visit.[26][27] They then spent weeks working together in New York City revising the script.[6][28] Rubin found Murray's more laid-back approach to writing "frustrating."[29] They were still working on the script a month before filming began, bringing it back closer to Rubin's original.[3]

Rubin and Ramis then collaborated on an additional rewrite. The pair worked on individual sections and then edited each other. Ramis then spent a few days refining it into the screenplay.[3][4] Rubin recommended that they not include any references to the 1990s or any specific period to allow it to remain timeless.[29][30] Rubin has said that the final film largely resembles his script.[12] He did regret the loss of a scene between Phil and a 14-year-old boy, in which the child behaves like Phil did at the start of the film, contrasting with Phil's character development by that point in the script.[31] A few scenes were written but not filmed, including Phil praying at a church, gambling, and a scene Murray personally vetoed, of Phil stripped naked to force an elderly man out of a swimming pool.[3][12] Although the script was complete, it continued to undergo changes during filming.[32][33]

Casting edit

 
Chris Elliott (pictured in 2011) portrays Larry the cameraman.

For the role of Phil Connors, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, and Michael Keaton were also considered.[34][35][36] Hanks was Ramis's first choice, but he rejected the offer, rationalizing that he was typecast portraying nice people, and the audience would be expecting his inevitable redemption, whereas Murray was "such a miserable [son of a bitch] on- and off-screen" that the outcome would be less predictable. Keaton said that the role of a "wry, sardonic, glib" character was a typical role for him, but that he simply did not understand the film. He later confessed regret in passing on the role.[35][36] Phil was written as a younger man, but this was changed when it was determined that the appropriate comic actors were all older.[37]

Murray and Ramis had a longstanding friendship and collaborative relationship, having worked together since 1974 on many projects and five films to great success, including Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack, and Ghostbusters (1984).[11][18] Rubin did not write the character as particularly nasty, aiming for a normal person in an extranormal situation. In casting Murray, Phil was portrayed as more cynical, sarcastic, and detached, but not so malicious that audiences would no longer support him.[38] Rubin wanted Kevin Kline for the part, believing Murray did not have the necessary acting ability.[39] Ramis reassured Rubin, saying, "Don't worry. This is what Bill Murray can do. He can be that nasty and still make you like him." MacDowell agreed, saying "He's a jerk but he makes you laugh."[38]

Albert auditioned comedians for the role of Rita, but determined that someone competing with Murray at comedy would be detrimental. Rita was not intended to trade witty comments with Phil, but instead to offer human warmth and intelligence. MacDowell was cast because she was thought to bring an effortless grace suited to Rita's character. MacDowell tried to adapt to Murray's natural improvisation in scenes. She believed that her character's humor comes from her honesty, without being outlandish.[38] Singer Tori Amos was also considered for the role.[40]

Tobolowsky was hired after delivering an "overwhelmingly obnoxious" portrayal during his audition.[41] Michael Shannon, who portrays prospective groom Fred, made his on-screen acting debut in the film. He spent much of the shoot in the background of the diner scene as they wanted all the actors in their places even if the camera was not focused on them.[42] A live groundhog, given the name Scooter, was used to portray Punxsutawney Phil. Punxsutawney officials, upset that their town was not used for filming, refused to allow the real Punxsutawney Phil to appear in the film.[16][43] The groundhog itself was not specially bred for use on film and was trapped in the wild near Illinois a few weeks before filming.[27]

Preproduction edit

 
The real Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (2012)

The production wanted to use a "quintessential American town" for location shooting, a place that did not look as if it was specific to any particular time period.[7] The Pennsylvania Film Commission provided location scouting tapes of Punxsutawney, but it became obvious that attempting to film in Punxsutawney would present difficulties, as the town had few ideal filming locations for the scripted scenes.[7][27] Punxsutawney was also too isolated from the necessary amenities. The rural town was nearly 80 miles (130 km) from Pittsburgh, the nearest large city and did not offer sufficient accommodation for the entire cast and crew.[27][44]

As a Chicago native, Ramis enjoyed filming in Illinois and knew the area could meet their needs.[7][27] These included being closer to a major metropolitan area with access to highways, a winter aesthetic, and the ability to complete the production as quickly as possible.[27][44] Ramis also wanted a main street like Punxsutawney's. Location scout Bob Hudgins thought that Mineral Point, Wisconsin, could meet their requirements. During the scouting journey there, the team stopped in the city of Baraboo, Wisconsin, which happened to have a town square. The filmmakers could see the benefits of a town square over a main street. Ramis asked for something similar, but in closer proximity to Chicago.[45]

By the time they arrived in Woodstock, Illinois, over 60 towns had been scouted. Hudgins was aware of Woodstock—a small town of approximately 25,000 people—from his work on the 1987 comedy film Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Though relatively remote, it offered the timeless quality the filmmakers sought. After Hudgins arranged for Ramis and Albert to view the town from the bell tower of the Woodstock Opera House, the decision was made to film in Woodstock.[27][45] The town even came with a large pothole for Phil to step in.[7][45]

Scouts initially found a forested preserve area outside of McHenry, Illinois, to film scenes at Gobbler's Knob. The filmmakers later opted to position the site in the town square instead,[45] recreating it to scale with detailed notes and videos,[7][27][44] which significantly increased the effect on the town. Thousands of extras were on site across multiple takes. Several local businesses banded together to oppose the film's presence, concerned about the influence the production would have on both the town square and storefronts over an indeterminate amount of time. Hudgins said that he was proud that badges with the number "23" on them—representing the 23 united businesses—had to be amended to "14" as he won several over. The city council was also split on whether to let it proceed.[45] Three of the business owners sued Columbia Pictures after filming concluded for lost profits during the production. One of these cases was settled out of court; the outcomes of the other two are unknown.[46]

Filming edit

 
Tip Top Bistro, established at the site of the fictional Tip Top Cafe in Woodstock

Principal photography began on March 16, 1992, and concluded on June 10, after 86 days.[47] The budget was reported to be between $14.6 million and $30 million.[1][27][48] Filming took place mainly in Woodstock, as well as on sets in Cary, Illinois, and Hollywood.[27][49]

Weather conditions varied considerably during filming. Much of the shoot was conducted in conditions described as frigid and bitterly cold.[7] Murray estimated that it was often 20 °F (−7 °C). The conditions persisted until the end of May. Murray said that being outside for up to 12 hours a day left his skin feeling raw and made him irritable.[27] Toward the end of the shoot, as summer began, fake snow was used to replicate the winter setting, and the actors continued to wear their winter gear despite the rising heat.[42] Ramis could not decide on the weather conditions for the background of Phil's and Ned's encounters, so he shot their nine scenes multiple times in differing conditions. He settled on a gloomy setting to indicate a loop coming to an end.[7] Weather conditions were a major factor in a two-week shoot for the car crash scene.[50]

The shoot was also mired in tensions between Ramis and Murray; Ramis was focused on making a romantic comedy, in direct contrast to Murray's desire for a more contemplative film.[7][51] Murray was also in the middle of a divorce from Margaret Kelly.[12] He was reportedly miserable throughout filming, demonstrated erratic behavior, threw tantrums, and often contradicted Ramis's decisions.[18][51] Ramis said that Murray constantly showed up late to set, calling his behavior "just irrationally mean and unavailable."[51] The two also disagreed about the script and other actors' performances.[12] Shannon recounted how he believed he had upset Murray during an encounter. When Ramis heard about this, he made Murray publicly apologize to Shannon.[42] Tobolowsky recounted how before their scene's first take, Murray walked into a bakery and bought all the pastries, which he threw to the gathered onlookers, using Tobolowsky to help carry the load.[33]

 
The Woodstock Opera House served as both the exterior of Rita's hotel and the scene of one of Phil's suicides.

The script continued to change during filming. When Tobolowsky arrived for his first scene, he was handed a new script. He estimated that about a third of it was different from his original copy. For example, early in the film, Phil ends his first loop by breaking a pencil to see if it is repaired the following day. A more elaborate scene was filmed in which Phil spray-painted the walls of the room he wakes up in, destroyed objects, and gave himself a Mohawk hairstyle. The scene took three days to film and was costly; Ramis discarded it for something quieter, simpler, and less manic. The revised script also featured more of Phil's misadventures, and his suicide attempts were set closer to the end. These scenes were moved forward in favor of a long third act showing Phil embracing life.[32][33]

Murray endured physical discomfort for some scenes. To prepare for his step into the water-filled pothole, he wrapped his foot in cling wrap, neoprene, and two pairs of socks. As soon as the scene finished, he began an expletive-filled rant until the costume department dried his foot with hairdryers to avoid frostbite.[7] For another scene, Murray asked MacDowell to really slap him, and Ramis instructed the children Murray confronts in a snowball fight to throw hard.[38][51] During the scene in which Phil drives off with Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog bit Murray on the knuckle. Despite wearing gloves, the bite broke the skin. It bit him again in the same spot on a later take.[43][16]

Murray was hesitant about shooting the final scene in which Phil awakens next to Rita, as how or whether Phil was dressed would affect the tone of the revelation that he had escaped the time loop. Ramis polled the crew, who were split between Phil wearing the same clothes as the previous night and different clothes that suggested the pair had been intimate.[7] A young female crew member served as the tiebreaker, ruling that they should be wearing the same clothes as "anything else... will ruin the movie."[7] As MacDowell's and Murray's characters venture outside the Cherry Street Inn in the film's denouement, the scripted line "Let's live here" is tempered by a Murray ad lib, "We'll rent to start."[52]

Many locations in and around Woodstock were used in the production. The Woodstock Town Square features prominently. A bar in the former courthouse is used for a bar in Rita's hotel. The Woodstock Opera House served as the exteriors of Rita's hotel, and its tower is used for Phil's suicide leap.[49][53] The Cherry Street Inn was a private residence; the interior was shot on a set.[49] Woodstock City Lanes was used for the bowling alley scene.[53] The Tip Top Cafe, a setting for several scenes, was purpose-built for the film. Local demand later led to a real diner with a near-identical name at the same location.[53][54] The bachelor auction where Phil demonstrates his personal transformation was filmed at the Woodstock Moose Lodge.[49][53] The scene of Phil driving a truck over a cliff was shot in Nimtz Quarry in Loves Park, Illinois, about 34 miles (55 km) from Woodstock. A rail system was used to propel two vehicles into the quarry on separate takes, to give Ramis a choice of shots; pyrotechnics were employed to make each explode.[50]

Release edit

Context edit

See also: 1993 in film
 
The premiere of Groundhog Day took place on February 4, 1993, at the Fox Theater, Westwood Village in Westwood, Los Angeles.

1993 was considered the year of the family film.[55] This was seen as a response to criticism of Hollywood for overusing violence and sex in films, as well as a need for feel-good entertainment in a time of recession.[56][57] As production costs rose, films pitched at both adults and children offered a greater chance being profitable both at the theater and in the ensuing home video rentals. By 1993, the three all-time highest-grossing films in North America were family-oriented: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars, and Home Alone. Family films encouraged repeat business and offered more opportunities to sell merchandise.[56][57] Columbia Pictures chairman Mark Canton said that PG-rated films were much more likely to make over $100 million, compared to adult-oriented fare. Groundhog Day was rated PG, allowing children access with parental permission. The film was seen as a potential sleeper success.[58][59]

Groundhog Day was one of many family films released that year, including Free Willy, Last Action Hero, and the highly anticipated Jurassic Park, which would go on to become the highest-grossing film to date.[60] Not all releases that year were family-centric; it would become considered one of the greatest years for film across a range of genres.[61][62] There were blockbusters like Mrs. Doubtfire and Indecent Proposal, critical favorites such as Schindler's List and Philadelphia,[63][62][64] and future classics, like Dazed and Confused, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.[64][65][66]

The premiere of Groundhog Day took place on February 4, 1993, at the Fox Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles. Murray did not attend the low-budget event, whose guests included comedian Rodney Dangerfield and actresses Catherine O'Hara, Mimi Rogers, and Virginia Madsen. $40,000 of the entry ticket sales profits were donated to the Scleroderma Research Foundation and Turning Point Shelter.[67] A second premiere took place the following day in Crystal Lake, Illinois, followed by an auction of props and signed equipment from the film. All proceeds were donated to the Woodstock school district.[46]

Box office edit

In North America, Groundhog Day received a wide release on February 12, 1993, across 1,640 theaters. The film earned $12.5 million—an average of $7,632 per theater. The film benefited from a four-day weekend due to the President's Day holiday Monday. This increased its weekend total to $14.6 million—enhancing the theater average to $8,934. This made it the second-biggest opening for a film released in winter, behind Wayne's World ($18 million) released the year before. Groundhog Day finished as the number one film of the weekend, ahead of romantic drama Sommersby ($9.9 million), and adventure comedy Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey ($8.1 million), both in their second week of release.[68][69][70] Screenings of the film were approximately 80% sold out. 65% of audiences polled said they would "definitely recommend" it.[71]

The film retained the number-one position in its second weekend with a further gross of $9.3 million.[72] In its third weekend, it dropped to second place with $7.6 million, behind the debuting crime thriller Falling Down ($8.7 million).[68][73] Groundhog Day remained in the top 10 grossing films for a further four weeks, earning a total of $57.6 million. It spent the remainder of its run outside the top 10 apart from two brief resurgences—one during the long Easter weekend in mid-April where it rose to number 2, and approximately 15 weeks into its run, where it rose to number 7 after being released in low-price ticket theaters.[68][74][75]

In total, the film earned an approximate box office gross of $70.9 million.[48] Though it did not break any records, the film was considered a success, if a modest one.[30][76][77] It finished as the 10th highest-grossing film of 1993 behind Free Willy ($78 million) and Cliffhanger ($84 million).[55] When accounting for films released at the end of 1993 that earned most of their box office in 1994, Groundhog Day becomes the 14th highest-grossing film of 1993.[63] Industry experts suggest that as of 1997, the box office returns to the studio—minus the theaters' share—was $32.5 million.[78] Outside of North America, the film is estimated to have earned a further $34.2 million, giving it a cumulative worldwide gross of $105 million and making it the 19th highest-grossing film of the year worldwide.[48][79][80]

Reception edit

Critical reception edit

 
Stephen Tobolowsky in 2012. His portrayal of insurance-selling "pest" Ned Ryerson was well received.[81][82]

Groundhog Day received generally positive reviews from critics.[83] CinemaScore polls reported that moviegoers gave it an average rating of "B+" on a scale of A+ to F.[84]

It was seen as a significant change from the previous works of Murray and Ramis.[85] Kenneth Turan appreciated it as a gentle, endearing, and smaller-scale film.[85] Hal Hinson called it the best American comedy since 1982's Tootsie (also featuring Murray). He said that Groundhog Day demonstrated Ramis's capable comedic timing, and offered a clever plot without pretension.[86] Critics compared it to a combination of It's a Wonderful Life and the surreal science-fiction/horror television series The Twilight Zone (1959).[82][86][87] Roger Ebert compared it to the Murray-starring Christmas-comedy Scrooged (1988), featuring a similar transformation from selfish to selfless. He said that where that film offered a "grim discontent," Groundhog Day offered optimism.[88]

Critics agreed that the film had an obvious moral, but disagreed on its presentation. Desson Thomson found the film initially intriguing but believed it deteriorated into a Hollywood-style morality tale.[89] In Turan's opinion, Groundhog Day started as a traditional Hollywood story, but was earnest enough to convert the audience by the end, and had a "romantic innocence" that prevented it becoming formulaic.[85] Hinson said that the moral core of the story was never presented in a way that insulted the viewer's intelligence or required they sacrifice their cynicism to accept it. He continued that Phil evolves into a better version of himself, but never stops being a jerk.[86] According to Janet Maslin, the film balanced sentimentality and nihilism.[82] The Hollywood Reporter appreciated that the film endorsed small town morals and their positive effect on Phil.[87] The New Statesman argued that it appealed simultaneously to cynicism and optimism.[90]

The tone was described as inconsistent, and the film poorly paced, some scenes going on too long.[81] Owen Glieberman compared it unfavorably to another time-travel film, Back to the Future (1985), which he found more cleverly structured. He described some scenes as isolated comedy sketches rather than part of a larger narrative.[91] Thomson said that the repetition of scenes worked against the film, making it seem as if no progress was being made.[89] Hinson countered that minor alterations to the scenes kept them interesting as part of a "brilliantly imaginative" and "complex" script.[86] Some reviewers said that the humor was often mild, eliciting small chuckles instead of outright hilarity,[91][82] although Hinson found it to be "wildly funny."[86] The Hollywood Reporter wrote that it offered a range of comedy and satire, all tempered by the love story between Phil and Rita.[87] Critics highlighted the deeper story behind the comedy. Ebert called it a comedy on the surface but with an underlying thoughtfulness.[88] Maslin said that her initial impression was of a lightweight fare, but it became "strangely affecting."[82]

Murray was consistently praised for his performance.[81][85][86][89] Critics were in agreement that his performance was essential to the film's success by making Phil's transformation believable.[81][82][92] Gene Siskel wrote that any other actor could not have prevented the film from becoming too "saccharine."[92] Turan said that Murray's natural gruffness and comedic barbs prevented over-sentimentality. Turan also appreciated the endearing performance by Murray compared to his more abrasive, past performances.[85] Hinson said that Murray had never been funnier. He continued that Murray was a vital component in keeping the film's optimism from seeming dishonest or manufactured. Hinson liked that even after Phil's redemption, he retains a cynical edge.[86] Glieberman believed that Murray's indifference retains the audience's attention, but added that while Murray was talented enough to play a redeemed person, it was not a good fit for him.[91] Ebert found Murray significantly funnier as a sarcastic antagonist than the friendly protagonist.[88]

Critics were enamored with MacDowell's performance. Siskel said that she lit up the screen when she was on.[92] Maslin called her a "thorough delight," saying that MacDowell's performance offered a comforting, comedic presence.[82] Hinson said that the on-screen chemistry between MacDowell and Murray was "otherworldly" and that she was a perfect fit for comedy.[86] Tobolowsky also received praise as a hilarious "pest."[81][82]

Accolades edit

At the 1993 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the screenplay came runner-up for Best Screenplay, tying with Schindler's List.[93] The same year, it won Best Comedy Film at the British Comedy Awards.[94] In a then-unprecedented move, in late 1993, Columbia Pictures sent over 4,500 members of the Academy Awards voting committee a custom box containing videotapes of nine of their eligible films. The campaign was estimated to have cost between $400,000 and $650,000. Groundhog Day was included among these nine films,[95][96] but received no nominations at the 66th Academy Awards.[97]

At the 1994 BAFTA Awards, Rubin and Ramis won the award for Best Original Screenplay.[98] MacDowell won the award for Best Actress at the 20th Saturn Awards ceremony, where Groundhog Day also received nominations for Best Fantasy Film (losing to The Nightmare Before Christmas), Bill Murray for Best Actor (losing to Robert Downey Jr. in Heart and Souls), Best Writing and Best Direction (losing both to Jurassic Park), and Best Costumes for Jennifer Butler (losing to Hocus Pocus).[99] At the American Comedy Awards, Murray and Elliott were nominated for, respectively, Funniest Actor and Funniest Supporting Actor.[100] The film was nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation at the Hugo Awards, losing to Jurassic Park.[101]

Post-release edit

Aftermath edit

 
Author Richard A. Lupoff threatened legal action against the filmmakers, alleging that they had copied his own time loop-based story "12:01 P.M."

Despite its relative success, a sequel was ruled out by November 1993.[102] Groundhog Day was one of the films credited with helping to reverse Columbia's failures at the box office, alongside the 1992 films Bram Stoker's Dracula, A Few Good Men and A League of Their Own.[103] Shortly after its release, author Richard A. Lupoff threatened legal action against the filmmakers, alleging the film copied his short story "12:01 P.M." and its associated 1990 short film adaptation about a man stuck in a time loop. The case was never formally filed as the film's production company refused to support legal action.[6][104] Similarly, author Leon Arden attempted legal action, claiming the film plagiarized his novel One Fine Day, which he had unsuccessfully pitched as a script to Columbia Pictures, about a man repeating April 15. The judge ruled against Arden.[104][105]

Murray initially hated the finished Groundhog Day.[51] In a 1993 interview, he said that he wanted to focus on the comedy and the underlying theme of people repeating their lives out of fear of change. Ramis wanted to focus on the redeeming power of love. Even so, Murray agreed that Ramis had ultimately been right to do so.[43] The film marked the end of Ramis and Murray's nearly 20-year long partnership that among other things, had created films like Caddyshack, Stripes (1981), and Ghostbusters. After filming concluded, Murray stopped speaking to Ramis. He never contacted Ramis, and refused to speak about him in interviews.[11] Ramis openly spoke about Murray, both criticizing him and discussing his dreams where the pair were once again friends.[18][51] Some of their close acquaintances, including producer Michael Shamberg, speculated that Murray had grown disillusioned with the assumption that his best work only came in collaboration with Ramis, or that Ramis was responsible for Murray's public persona.[11][18] Ramis said that he could make Murray as funny as possible, and in return, Murray's improvisational skills could save even the most lackluster of scripts.[18]

Murray felt that Groundhog Day had given him an opportunity to showcase a different side of himself. He admitted that he was bothered by his perception that his previous films focused on jokes without offering a deeper subtext. Even so, he said that he had found solace in meeting the people entertained by his work.[43] Ramis believed that Murray's dramatic turns in films like Lost in Translation (2003) revealed more about Murray than anything else. Speaking in 2009, Ramis said that he thought Murray had grown tired of being the manic, energetic person carrying a film, and wanted to explore his potential.[106] Ramis reached out to Murray to cast him in his 2005 black comedy The Ice Harvest. Murray's brother Brian declined on his behalf. When Ramis enquired further, Brian said that Murray never discussed Ramis. Except for a few brief exchanges at public events, the pair did not speak for nearly two decades.[11] They reunited only in the final few months of Ramis's life in 2014.[7][107] Rubin said that Murray and his brother now speak fondly of Ramis.[7]

Rubin was in high demand as a screenwriter but retained his desire to tell original stories and refused to tell a traditional Hollywood narrative arc, as he found defying the expected premise and structure the most interesting part. This was not acceptable to studios looking for him to simply put his spin on a conventional story. Eventually, the offers stopped coming. He continued to write scripts, but none progressed. In a 2017 interview, Rubin admitted some regret that Groundhog Day remained his biggest success.[6]

Home media and rereleases edit

Groundhog Day was released on VHS in early September 1993. It debuted at number 11 on the VHS rental chart, rising to number 1 by the end of September, replacing Falling Down.[108][109][110] It remained the number 1 rental until mid-October when it was knocked off the top spot by Point of No Return at number 2 and Aladdin at number 1.[111][112] It was considered the most successful comedy release of late 1993.[113]

The film was released on DVD in 1998.[114] The 2002 "Special Edition" DVD included the film's trailers, an audio commentary by Ramis, and The Weight of Time—a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the film, featuring cast and crew interviews.[115][116] Murray did not participate.[117] A 15th-anniversary edition DVD was released in January 2008.[118] The film was digitally remastered under Ramis's supervision. This set included Ramis' audio commentary and The Weight of Time, and added an interview with Ramis, a short documentary on groundhogs, and deleted scenes.[116][117][119] This version was later released on Blu-ray disc in 2009, with an additional picture-in-picture feature with Tobolowsky reprising his role as Ned to provide facts about the film.[120]

To celebrate the film's 25th anniversary in February 2018, a remastered 4k resolution version of the film was released in select theaters.[121] In April 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a special one-night screening of the remastered film at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.[122] The remastered version was also released as an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray disc, and a digital download. It included the same extras as the 15th-anniversary edition.[116]

To celebrate the film's 30th anniversary, the film was released in select theaters for two days in February 2023, with one of those days being February 2, Groundhog Day.[123]

Analysis edit

Time loop duration edit

The duration of Phil's real-time entrapment in the time loop has been the subject of much discussion.[35][124] Ramis once said that he believed the film took place over ten years.[35] When a blogger estimated the actual length to be approximately nine years, Ramis disputed that estimate and his own. He replied that it takes at least 10 years to become good at an activity (such as Phil learning ice sculpting and to speak French) and "allotting for the down-time and misguided years he spent, it had to be more like 30 or 40 years."[125] A similar estimate suggests that it takes at least 10,000 hours of study (just over a year's worth of time) to become an expert in a field, and given the number of loops seen or mentioned on screen, and how long Phil could spend per day studying, that Phil spent approximately 12,400 days, or nearly 34 years, trapped in the loop.[124] In Rubin's original concept draft, Phil himself estimates that he has been trapped for between 70 and 80 years, having used books to track the passage of time.[3]

Born to a Jewish family, Ramis had adopted a Buddhist lifestyle from his second wife, embracing some of its precepts.[11][126][127] He said that based on Buddhist doctrine, it takes approximately 10,000 years for a soul to evolve to the next level.[7] In 2005, Rubin said, "it became this weird political issue because if you asked the studio, 'How long was the repetition?', they'd say, 'Two weeks'. But the point of the movie to me was that you had to feel you were enduring something that was going on for a long time.... For me it had to be—I don't know. A hundred years. A lifetime."[128] In his book Groundhog Day, Ryan Gilbey thought the vagueness surrounding the length of the loop was one of the most remarkable elements of the film. Just as there is no justification for why or how Phil is caught in the loop, the length of time is only as long as it takes for Phil to become a better person.[30]

Thematic analysis edit

 
A 9th-century bodhisattva bas-relief. The character of Phil Connors has been interpreted as a bodhisattva: someone who helps others reach nirvana.

The film has been interpreted in many ways by different groups.[6][11] Rubin has said that he did not set out to write the film as a spiritual allegory. He simply wanted to tell a story about human life and periods when a person becomes trapped in a cycle that they cannot escape.[129] He said it was not "just about a man repeating the same day but a story about how to live. Whose life isn't a series of days? Who doesn't feel stuck from time to time?"[4] In the bowling alley scene, Phil asks two Punxsutawney residents if they understand what it is like to be stuck in a place where nothing they do matters. He is referring to his own situation, but the two men, trapped in their own small-town lives, know exactly what he means.[82]

While Rubin and Ramis discussed several of the philosophical and spiritual aspects of the film, they "never intended [it] to be anything more than a good, heartfelt, entertaining story."[4] Murray saw the original script as an interpretation of how people repeat the same day over and over because they are afraid of change.[43] Rubin added that at the start of the loop, it is the worst day of Phil's life. By being forced to change who he is, to embrace the world around him, and each moment of his day, it becomes the best day of his life; the day he falls in love.[5] In a 2017 interview, Murray said he believed Groundhog Day still resonated because it is about "the idea that we just have to try again... it's such a beautiful, powerful idea."[130]

Rubin has been contacted throughout the years by different experts providing their own interpretations.[131] It has been seen as a Christian allegory with Punxsutawney Phil representing Jesus Christ,[131] an example of the Nietzschean concept of eternal return, the spirit of Judaism, and the essence of homeopathy.[5][6] It has also been interpreted as an adaptation of the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus who is also condemned to an eternal, daily punishment.[132][133] Others have found significance in the numbers present in the film.[6] Ramis himself was fascinated by Rubin's original draft and its concepts of reincarnation.[134] The date of Groundhog Day also has implications. It is set between the end of winter—characterized in the film as a period of satire and the end of things—and spring—a season represented by comedy and connected with themes of renewal and redemption.[135]

Buddhist leaders commended the representation of the ideologies of regeneration. Phil can be interpreted as a bodhisattva, someone who has reached the brink of Nirvana and returns to Earth to help others to do the same. In the Jewish faith, Phil's escape or reward can be seen as him being returned to Earth to perform moral deeds or mitzvot—the precepts and commandments of God. In Christianity, his journey can be interpreted as a form of resurrection or a means of securing a place in heaven. In Falun Gong religious philosophy, the film has been interpreted as a message that the spiritual self cannot evolve until it learns from past mistakes.[131][134][136] In Catholicism, Phil's situation can be identified as a form of purgatory, escaped only by embracing selflessness.[127] MacDowell said "Wouldn't it be great if we had that kind of experience and learn something from it? We go through life and are not always conscious of it... whatever religion you want to base yourself in, that's ultimately why we're here."[134] Groundhog Day can also be interpreted as a secular tale in which Phil is experiencing an existential crisis where primal self-indulgence is no longer satisfying, causing him to fall into a depression that he escapes by taking ownership of his own self-improvement; he then uses his improved persona to benevolently help others.[137]

Phil initially compares himself to a god, declaring that as a weatherman, he makes the weather.[134] After several loops, he comes to believe he is a god, asserting that omnipotence may be mistaken for having lived so long one simply knows everything.[127] Using his knowledge he is able to manipulate events in his favor.[126] The repetition gives Phil an opportunity to escape from his own narcissistic self-confinement. Unwilling to change himself, the means to do so are forced upon him.[126] After constant rejection by Rita and his idea of love, Phil hits an emotional low and repeatedly commits suicide. At one point, he suggests that he has killed himself enough times to no longer exist. It is at this point, Ramis suggests, that Phil becomes ready to change.[126][132]

It is only when Phil stops using the loops to indulge his own desires and instead uses them to selflessly help others that he is freed.[12] In repeatedly failing to save the old homeless man, Phil is also forced to accept that he is not a god.[138] Similarly, regardless of how much knowledge he gains about Rita, and despite his accomplishments learned throughout the loops, he is unable to impress her enough to earn her love. He wins her over only once he stops trying to do so, and instead demonstrates genuine care for others without fakery or self-interest, will likely reset, and it will have all been for naught. Only then does Rita return his affections.[11][12][132] The aspects of Rita that Phil mocked at the start of the film have become qualities he admires and respects, and in turn, Phil receives Rita's love not because he desires it, but because he has genuinely become the type of person that Rita could love.[139] This demonstrates the redeeming power of love, something Ramis wanted to emphasize.[43][132] For him, Groundhog Day represents having the strength and knowledge to make a change when faced with the opportunity to repeat previous mistakes.[126]

Rick Brookhiser argues that it is because Phil fully appreciates every facet of the day that he is rewarded by the day being taken from him. He said, "loving life includes loving the fact that it goes."[127] John Seamon said that where other films use memory as a means of reflection or escape, Phil effectively lives within his memories, repeating them indefinitely; he has no hope for a future because everything will reset. By remembering and appreciating new details, Phil is able to grow as a person and becomes the agent of his own change.[140] Rubin said Phil will not return to his old ways after his experiences, but might suffer disappointment that no day will ever live up to his final, perfect February 2, after which he essentially loses his superpowers.[141]

Legacy edit

 
A floor-positioned plaque in Woodstock, Illinois commemorating the pothole Bill Murray's character steps in during Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is considered one of the most beloved comedy films ever made, an all-time classic, and a pop culture touchstone.[7][142][143] In 2020, Paste described it as having a "mythic, permanent pop cultural status reserved for few films."[77] The film's success made Ramis a credible comedy director, opening up more creative opportunities for him.[144][145] Over the rest of the 1990s, he would direct 1996's Multiplicity (also starring MacDowell), 1999's Analyze This, and 2000's Bedazzled.[11][145] Groundhog Day also showcased Murray's capabilities as an actor, changing perceptions of him as a comedian to a broad-ranged actor and credible romantic lead. His performance is seen as a transitioning point to later roles in serious films like Rushmore (1998), his Academy Award-nominated performance in Lost in Translation, and Moonrise Kingdom (2012).[30] Rubin started a blog in 2007 that featured fictional conversations between himself and Phil Connors, who had since retired to live on a mountainside near Taos, New Mexico. Rubin taught screenwriting at Harvard University for several years.[6]

Its impact on Woodstock and Punxsutawney was lasting and significant. Since the film's release, Woodstock has hosted its own Groundhog Day festivals. These have included groundhog Woodstock Willie,[49] screenings of the film, and walking tours of filming locations.[53] The town attracts approximately 1,000 tourists for its yearly event, which has featured appearances by Albert, Rubin, and Tobolowsky.[7] Punxsutawney, which once drew only a few hundred visitors to its festival, has since attracted tens of thousands. The year following the film's release, over 35,000 people visited the town for Groundhog Day.[4][7] Residents appreciate the film's impact on the town, but assert that their focus remains on Punxsutawney Phil and the long-lived festival.[7] In Woodstock, plaques are positioned at key locations used in the film, commemorating moments including Phil meeting Ned, the pothole in which Phil trips, and the town square pavilion where Phil and Rita share a dance.[49][146]

As of 2016, Rubin continued to receive mail from fans, philosophers, and religious leaders; their content ranged from simple letters to sermons and dissertations. He has spoken of psychiatrists who recommend the film to their patients, and addicts who have told him that it helped them realize they were trapped in a repeating cycle of their own.[4][6] Some time after the film's release, Murray changed his opinion about it. He called it "probably the best work I've done," adding "and probably the best work Harold will ever do."[30][147] In 2018, Tobolowsky said "I think [Murray's] performance in Groundhog Day will stand as one of the greatest comedic performances of all time.... He is able to be both antagonist and protagonist at the same time in the same film. He’s everything that’s horrible and everything that’s wonderful.... I think it’s gonna stand up as long as films are made."[7] The city of Chicago made a proclamation on February 2, 2024, as "Harold Ramis Day", in a ceremony joined by Murray, Ramis' widow Erica Mann Ramis, and other actors from the film.[148]

Critical reassessment edit

Groundhog Day is considered one of the greatest films ever made.[64][127][149][150][151] Rotten Tomatoes assesses a 94% approval rating from the aggregated reviews of 140 critics, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The consensus reads, "Smart, sweet, and inventive, Groundhog Day highlights Murray's dramatic gifts while still leaving plenty of room for laughs."[152] The film has a score of 72 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[153]

In 2004, The New Yorker called it Ramis's masterpiece.[11] In 2005, as part of his The Great Movies series, Ebert raised his original score for the film from three stars to a full four stars.[5] In this updated review, Ebert said that he had underestimated the film and noted that Murray's performance was essential to making the film work.[6][149] That same year, Jonah Goldberg called it one of the best films of the previous 40 years, positioning it alongside It's a Wonderful Life as one of America's most uplifting and timeless films.[127] In 2009, literary theorist Stanley Fish listed it as one of the ten best American films. He wrote, "The comedy and the philosophy (how shall one live?) do not sit side by side, but inhabit each other in a unity that is incredibly satisfying."[154] It is listed in the 2013 film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which says "...Bill Murray gives what may be the best and warmest performance of his career in this genius comedy—arguably the best of the 1990s ..."[155] The Guardian attributes its lasting appeal to its use of a classic redemption arc like Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, and its refusal to explain why the loop occurs, making it less like a typical mainstream film.[30]

In 2000, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked Groundhog Day number 34 on its 100 Years...100 Laughs list recognizing the best comedy films.[156] In 2005, the film's screenplay was listed as the twenty-seventh greatest screenplay of the preceding 75 years on the Writers Guild of America's (WGA) 101 Greatest Screenplays list.[157][158] In a 2008 AFI poll of 1,500 industry members, Groundhog Day was ranked as the eighth-best fantasy film.[159][160] That same year Empire listed the film 259th on its list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[150] In 2014, a poll of 2,120 entertainment-industry members by The Hollywood Reporter ranked it the 63rd-best film of all time.[151] In 2015, the screenplay was listed as the third-funniest on the WGA's 101 Funniest Screenplays list, behind Some Like It Hot (1958) and Annie Hall (1977).[161][162] In 2017, the BBC polled 253 critics (118 female, 135 male) from across 52 countries on the funniest film made. Groundhog Day came fourth, behind Annie Hall, Dr. Strangelove (1964), and Some Like It Hot.[163]

Several publications have ranked it as one of the greatest comedy films of all time, including: number one by Empire (2019);[164] number five by Time Out;[165] number 10 by Rotten Tomatoes;[166] number 11 by IGN;[167] number 18 by Paste;[168] number 23 by The Daily Telegraph;[169] and unranked by Film School Rejects and Vogue.[170][171] Rotten Tomatoes also listed the film number 86 on its list of 200 essential movies to watch.[172] Similarly, it has been ranked as one of the greatest films of the 1990s, including: number 4 by IndieWire;[173] number 5 by Slate;[174] number 11 by Rolling Stone;[175] number 12 by ShortList;[176] number 15 by The A.V. Club;[177] number 28 by Rotten Tomatoes;[178] number 41 by Slant Magazine;[179] number 55 by the British Film Institute;[180] and unranked by Time Out.[181]

Cultural impact edit

 
Andie MacDowell with a groundhog on Groundhog Day 2008

William Goldman in 1993 said "I think Groundhog Day is the one that will be—of all of the movies that came out this year, it's the one that will be remembered in 10 years."[5] The same year, Desson Thomson opined "Groundhog will never be designated a national film treasure by the Library of Congress."[89] In 2006, the film was selected by the United States Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[182]

Several filmmakers have spoken of their appreciation for Groundhog Day or cited it as an inspiration in their own careers, including David O. Russell, Terry Jones,[30] and Jay Roach. Roach called it the film that "changed him."[11] Gillian Wearing called it one of her favorite films, citing its unusual structure and intelligent philosophical message.[30] The film's success helped to legitimize the use of fantasy in mainstream comedy films, laying the groundwork for future fantasy comedies such as Liar Liar (1997), The Truman Show (1998), and Click (2006).[30]

The phrase "Groundhog Day" has become a common term to reference a repetitive, unpleasant, and monotonous situation.[30][183] It is recognized by dictionaries under two definitions: the holiday itself, and "a situation in which events are or appear to be continually repeated."[184][185][186] The term's use is such that it has been defined as a cliché to refer to a situation in this way.[186] It has been invoked (sometimes inaccurately) by singers, sports stars, comedians, actors, politicians,[143][187] archbishops,[147] and former Guantanamo Bay detention camp inmates.[188] Then-President Bill Clinton referenced the film in a 1996 speech to troops stationed in Bosnia.[189] The term was used during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, to refer to the monotony of quarantine and isolation associated with attempts to stem the spread of the virus.[190][191]

The narrative concept of someone trapped in a repeating segment of time can be traced back to 1904, and is a popular trope, particularly in science-fiction.[6][142] Groundhog Day was responsible for popularizing the idea to the general public.[192][193][194] Time loops have since been used in several films (including Naken (2000), Source Code (2011), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Happy Death Day (2017) and its sequel, and Palm Springs (2020)),[192][195] television shows (including Russian Doll,[192] Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and The X-Files),[193] and video games (including The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Outer Wilds and Deathloop).[196][197] These narratives often involve a central flawed character who must evolve to escape their chronological imprisonment.[192] The influence of Groundhog Day is such that TV Tropes refers to this narrative arc as the "Groundhog Day Loop."[193] Rubin noted that with his script, he "stumbled upon a story with all the makings of a classic, so simple and true that it could be retold many different ways by many different storytellers."[4] It has been referenced across a range of media, including the 1998 novel About a Boy,[198] the music video for the Craig David song "7 Days," and the Doctor Who audio drama Flip-Flop, that features a time loop on the planet Punxsutawnee.[199] Writing for IGN, Michael Swaim postulated that since Groundhog Day popularized the time loop narrative, it had increased in mainstream popularity in part due to the Flynn effect—a statement on the increasing IQ of the population—that meant audiences could easily follow the more complex narratives, and the desire for nostalgia in the postmodern era of the early 21st century.[200]

On February 2, 2016, fans in Liverpool, England, gathered to watch the film repeatedly for 24 hours.[201] Since February 2 that year (apart from 2017), Sky Cinema has played the film on repeat for 24 hours.[202][203][204] In 2018, the New York Museum of Modern Art debuted a series of films chosen by polling 35 literary and religious scholars, which started with Groundhog Day. There was conflict between the scholars as so many of them wanted to write about the film for the presentation.[127]

Adaptations edit

See also: Groundhog Day (musical)

A sequel was ruled out shortly after the film's release in 1993.[102] Rubin also holds a story credit on the 2004 Italian remake of Groundhog Day, called È già ieri (translated as It's Already Yesterday), and commonly known as Stork Day.[6][40] When asked about a sequel in 2018, MacDowell said it would never happen because "I know [Murray]. He's not going to do it."[205] Despite this, Murray, Tobolowsky, and Doyle-Murray reprised their roles in a commercial for the Jeep Gladiator played during Super Bowl LIV on February 2, 2020. Filmed in Woodstock, the commercial recreates scenes from the film, and features Murray again trapped in a time loop. He uses the Jeep Gladiator to explore Punxsutawney alongside Punxsutawney Phil.[206][207] Murray called it his first and last commercial.[208] In April 2020, Jeep released a series of modified versions of the advert to promote social distancing during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Murray provided creative input on the edit.[190][209]

In the years since the film's release, Rubin had worked on a musical adaptation of Groundhog Day, partly out of boredom and partly because a musical was not covered by the rights he had signed over to Columbia.[4][6] In 2003, Stephen Sondheim expressed interest creating a musical but this project was never realized.[210] When Matthew Warchus and Tim Minchin approached Rubin in 2012, he had already developed a narrative outline, jokes, and a refined list of 12 songs.[4][6] He had been unable to progress the idea further without a composer. Coming off the success of Matilda the Musical, Warchus and Minchin collaborated with Rubin for several years to produce the Groundhog Day musical.[6] The musical debuted in August 2016, at The Old Vic theatre in London to generally positive reviews.[6][211] A Broadway version started running in 2017.[212] The show was nominated in several categories at the 2017 Laurence Olivier Awards, winning Best Actor and Best New Musical.[213] Murray attended a Broadway show in 2017, alongside Doyle-Murray and Rubin.[214]

A video game narrative sequel was released in September 2019. Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son was developed by Tequila Works and published by Sony Pictures Virtual Reality for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive. The game casts players as Phil's son, Phil Connors Jr., who has grown up in the shadow of his beloved father. Phil Jr. becomes trapped in his own time loop in Punxsutawney and is forced to help others and improve himself to earn his freedom.[215][216][217] It received mixed critical reviews.[218]

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Works cited edit

External links edit

January 01, 1970
groundhog, film, groundhog, 1993, american, fantasy, romantic, comedy, film, directed, harold, ramis, from, screenplay, danny, rubin, starring, bill, murray, andie, macdowell, chris, elliott, tells, story, cynical, television, weatherman, covering, annual, gro. Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Harold Ramis from a screenplay by him and Danny Rubin Starring Bill Murray Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliott it tells the story of a cynical television weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania who becomes trapped in a time loop forcing him to relive February 2 repeatedly The film also features Stephen Tobolowsky Brian Doyle Murray Marita Geraghty Angela Paton Rick Ducommun Rick Overton and Robin Duke in supporting roles Groundhog DayTheatrical release posterDirected byHarold RamisScreenplay byDanny RubinHarold RamisStory byDanny RubinProduced byTrevor AlbertHarold RamisStarringBill Murray Andie MacDowell Chris ElliottCinematographyJohn BaileyEdited byPembroke J HerringMusic byGeorge FentonDistributed byColumbia PicturesRelease datesFebruary 4 1993 1993 02 04 Fox Village Theatre February 12 1993 1993 02 12 Running time101 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 14 6 30 millionBox office 105 million Rubin conceived the outline of Groundhog Day in the early 1990s He wrote it as a spec script to gain meetings with producers for other work It eventually came to the attention of Ramis who worked with Rubin to make his idea less dark in tone and more palatable to a general audience by enhancing the comedy After being cast Murray clashed with Ramis over the script Murray wanted to focus on the philosophical elements whereas Ramis concentrated on the comedic aspects Principal photography took place from March to June 1992 almost entirely in Woodstock Illinois Filming was difficult in part because of bitterly cold weather but also because of the ongoing conflict between Ramis and Murray Groundhog Day was considered a box office success on its release earning over 105 million to become one of the highest grossing films of 1993 It also received generally positive reviews Reviewers were consistent in praise for the film s successful melding of highly sentimental and deeply cynical moments and for the philosophical message beneath the comedy It received multiple award nominations and won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay For all its success the film marked the end of Ramis s and Murray s long collaborative partnership which had produced films like Caddyshack 1980 and Ghostbusters 1984 After filming ended the pair did not speak to each other until shortly before Ramis s death in 2014 The film was a showcase for Murray he had previously been seen primarily as a comic actor and his performance led to more serious roles in critically acclaimed films In the years since its release the film has grown in esteem it is often considered to be among the greatest films of the 1990s and one of the greatest comedy movies ever It has also had a significant effect on popular culture the term Groundhog Day meaning a monotonous unpleasant and repetitive situation has become part of the English lexicon Buddhist Christian and Jewish scholars have analyzed the film as a religious allegory Groundhog Day is also credited with having ushered in mainstream acceptance of comedy films with fantasy genre elements In 2006 the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry Groundhog Day was adapted into a 2016 musical and inspired a 2019 video game sequel Groundhog Day Like Father Like Son Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3 1 Concept and original draft 3 2 Development 3 3 Writing 3 4 Casting 3 5 Preproduction 3 6 Filming 4 Release 4 1 Context 4 2 Box office 5 Reception 5 1 Critical reception 5 2 Accolades 6 Post release 6 1 Aftermath 6 2 Home media and rereleases 7 Analysis 7 1 Time loop duration 7 2 Thematic analysis 8 Legacy 8 1 Critical reassessment 8 2 Cultural impact 9 Adaptations 10 References 11 Works cited 12 External linksPlot editOn February 1 television weatherman Phil Connors reassures his Pittsburgh viewers that an approaching blizzard will miss Western Pennsylvania Alongside his new producer Rita Hanson and cameraman Larry Phil travels to Punxsutawney for his annual coverage of the Groundhog Day festivities He makes no secret of his contempt for the assignment the small town and the hicks who live there asserting that he will soon be leaving his station for a new job nbsp A private home in Woodstock Illinois was used for exteriors of the Cherry Street Inn the fictional location in which Phil awakens every morning in the film On February 2 Phil awakens in the Cherry Street Inn to Sonny amp Cher s I Got You Babe playing on the clock radio He gives a half hearted report on the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil and the festivities Contrary to his prediction the blizzard strikes the area preventing all travel out of Punxsutawney and although he desperately searches for a way to leave he is forced to spend the night in the town The next morning Phil wakes once more to I Got You Babe and the same DJ banter on the radio in his room at the Cherry Street Inn Phil experiences the previous day s events repeating exactly and believes he is experiencing deja vu He again unsuccessfully attempts to leave the town and retires to bed When he awakes it is again February 2 Phil gradually realizes that he is trapped in a time loop of which no one else is aware He confides his situation to Rita who directs him to a neurologist who in turn directs him to a psychologist neither can explain his experiences Phil gets drunk with locals Gus and Ralph and then leads police on a high speed car chase before being arrested and imprisoned The next morning Phil awakens in the Cherry Street Inn Realizing that there are no consequences for his actions Phil begins spending loops indulging in binge eating one night stands robbery and other dangerous activities using his increasing knowledge of the day s events and the town residents to manipulate circumstances to his advantage Eventually he focuses on seducing the sweet natured Rita using the loops to learn more about and manipulate her No matter what steps he takes Rita rebuffs his advances particularly when Phil tells her he loves her Rita asserts that he does not even know her Phil gradually becomes depressed and desperate for a way to escape the loop He commits suicide in a variety of ways even kidnapping Punxsutawney Phil and driving them both off a cliff Each time he reawakens on February 2 to I Got You Babe He eventually tries to explain his situation to Rita again using his detailed knowledge of the day to accurately predict events Convinced Rita spends the rest of that day s loop with Phil she encourages him to think of the loops as a blessing instead of a curse As they lie on the bed together at night Phil realizes that his feelings for Rita have become sincere He wakes alone on February 2 Phil decides to use his knowledge of the loop to change himself and others he saves people from deadly accidents and misfortunes and learns to play the piano sculpt ice and speak French But regardless of his positive actions he is unable to prevent a homeless old man from dying of natural causes During one iteration of the loop Phil reports on the Groundhog Day festivities with such eloquence that other news crews stop working to listen to his speech amazing Rita Phil continues his day helping the people of Punxsutawney That night Rita witnesses Phil s expert piano playing as the adoring townsfolk regale her with stories of his good deeds earlier that day Impressed by his apparent overnight transformation Rita successfully bids for him at a charity bachelor auction Phil carves an ice sculpture in Rita s image and tells her that no matter what happens even if he is trapped in the loop forever he is finally happy because he loves her They share a kiss and retire to Phil s room Phil wakes the next morning to I Got You Babe but finds Rita is still in bed with him and the radio banter has changed it is now February 3 He tells Rita he wants to live in Punxsutawney with her Cast edit nbsp nbsp Bill Murray left in 2018 and Andie MacDowell in 2017 Bill Murray as Phil Connors Andie MacDowell as Rita Hanson Chris Elliott as Larry the cameraman Stephen Tobolowsky as Ned Ryerson Brian Doyle Murray as Buster Green Marita Geraghty as Nancy Taylor Angela Paton as Mrs Lancaster Rick Ducommun as Gus Rick Overton as Ralph Robin Duke as Doris the waitress As well as the main cast Groundhog Day features Ken Hudson Campbell as the man in the hotel hallway David Pasquesi as Phil s psychiatrist and Richard Henzel and Rob Riley as the radio hosts waking Phil every morning Hynden Walch and Michael Shannon portray the newly married couple Debbie and Fred Les Podewell plays the homeless old man and Rod Sell appears as a Groundhog Day official Director Harold Ramis cameos as a neurologist Punxsutawney Phil is portrayed by a groundhog known as Scooter 1 2 Production editConcept and original draft edit nbsp The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice pictured served as Danny Rubin s initial inspiration for the script The original idea for Groundhog Day came to writer Danny Rubin in 1990 He had moved to Los Angeles to work as a screenwriter While waiting in a theater for a film to start he was reading Anne Rice s book The Vampire Lestat 1985 3 4 5 Rubin began musing about vampiric immortality and what one would do with their time if it was limitless He reasoned that vampires were like normal people who did not need to adhere to ordinary rules or moral boundaries 4 5 He questioned if and when immortality would become boring or pointless and how a person would change over time especially if they were incapable of substantial change 4 He singled out men he deemed to be in arrested development who could not outlive their adolescence 4 5 Having recently sold his first script for what would become the thriller film Hear No Evil 1993 his agent prompted him to develop a calling card script that he could use to gain meetings with producers Rubin began work on his idea of a man changing over eternal life but quickly realized that the idea was impractical because of the expense of depicting historical and future events At this point Rubin recalled a brief story concept he had written two years earlier that followed a man who woke every morning to find it was the same day repeating Rubin married the two ideas to create the outline for Groundhog Day By portraying eternity as a repeating cycle instead of a straight line through history he eliminated the production cost of constantly changing settings 4 He believed that the repetition also offered him more dramatic and comedic possibilities 5 Rubin opened a calendar and picked the next nearest holiday February 2 Groundhog Day He saw it as a date with story potential because it was a recognized holiday without much widespread attention Rubin believed that people were vaguely aware of the holiday on which a groundhog predicts the coming of spring Even so he believed few people outside Pennsylvania were aware that the actual festival takes place in the small town of Punxsutawney something he became aware of through a writing job for a local phone company 4 Setting the story in Punxsutawney provided a small area in which to trap Phil Connors while reporting on the event gave the character a reason to visit Rubin took the main character s name from Punxsutawney Phil 4 He hoped the film could become a perennial holiday favorite like It s a Wonderful Life 1946 and A Charlie Brown Christmas 1965 6 7 8 Rubin spent eight weeks working on the story seven making notes to define the rules and characters and one writing the script 4 5 He struggled to establish a cause for the time loop considering technological magical and celestial origins He considered these methods interchangeable and felt the cause was unimportant and could detract from the story elements he wanted to focus on Rubin said that the lack of explanation made Phil s situation more relatable as none of us knows exactly how we got stuck here either 4 He chose to begin the story in medias res with Phil already caught in the time loop 4 The first scene included Phil waking to I Got You Babe predicting the radio host banter and the actions of the hotel patrons and attacking a pedestrian outside Rubin thought this would intrigue an audience trying to understand how and why he is doing these things 5 He chose I Got You Babe because it used a lot of repeating lines and was about love which he felt were thematically resonant aspects 9 He likened his original script to the 1949 British black comedy film Kind Hearts and Coronets particularly the flippant way in which Phil s multiple suicides are shown 4 Rubin did not initially write the film as a broad comedy considering it more whimsical He found that the funnier elements were the easiest to think of one of the earliest scenes he wrote was about Phil using his ever increasing knowledge to seduce women 5 Loops were also dedicated to Phil seeing how far he could get outside of Punxsutawney inevitably he was always returned to the town 10 Even so the script focused much more on Phil s loneliness He breaks the loop only after realizing that there are other lonely people and that he can do good deeds to make them happier Scenes in the finished film happened much earlier in Rubin s script such as Phil driving over a cliff The passage of time was also more distinct Phil would track it by reading one page of a book per day reaching his low point when he realizes he has run out of books The original ending also featured a twist Phil breaks his loop and then confesses his love to Rita The perspective then becomes Rita s she rejects Phil s advance because she is not ready for love and gets trapped in a loop of her own 3 Development edit nbsp Director and writer Harold Ramis in 2009 Rubin s agent used the script to arrange meetings with producers although it did not sell the meetings generated other work for him 4 5 In 1991 after his agent left the industry Rubin distributed the Groundhog Day script in an effort to secure a new representative It came to the attention of Richard Lovett at Creative Arts Agency 5 11 Lovett said that he could not represent Rubin but passed the script to his own client Harold Ramis 5 By the early 1990s Ramis had begun moving away from involvement in the anti establishment and anti institutional comedies such as Caddyshack 1980 and National Lampoon s Vacation 1983 that had defined his earlier career 7 11 While Ramis had successes in front of the camera and in creative roles like writing his last directorial effort Club Paradise 1986 had been a critical and commercial failure 12 13 14 He wanted to direct an unusual project and was particularly interested in comedies about redemption and discovering one s purpose in life 7 11 Rubin was aware of Ramis s previous work having watched him in film and television 4 Ramis admitted that he did not laugh while reading Rubin s script He was interested in the underlying spirituality and romance present but thought it needed more humor 12 The pair discussed the core ideas in the script raising parallels between it and the concepts of Buddhism and reincarnation 4 They also discussed whether it was ethical for Superman a superhuman being with the power to save the lives of countless people and prevent disasters to effectively waste time on adventures with his partner Lois Lane 4 12 Rubin s script became the subject of two offers one arranged by Ramis through Columbia Pictures that would grant his project a higher budget but at the cost of creative control and a smaller independent studio that offered a lower budget of 3 million but would let Rubin retain his original concept Rubin chose to go with Ramis s deal As expected the studio wanted changes 3 Writing edit Rubin admitted to becoming defensive about the studio s changes He was concerned that they would remove what he saw as innovative plot points and turn it into a generic comedy film 4 Ramis supervised the rewrite 12 tasked with balancing Rubin s desire for originality and the studio s demand for a broad comedy 3 The pair loosely used the Kubler Ross model of the five stages of grief denial anger bargaining depression and acceptance as an outline 15 12 Ramis imagined himself in Phil s situation and the things he would do and feel if in the same cycle of entrapment 12 The pair spent weeks revising the script 6 Ramis suggested that Rubin s original ending with Rita trapped in her own loop be removed He felt that audiences would dislike this as it offered no catharsis 11 16 Similarly he felt it was important to retain the story s darker elements such as Phil s suicides as these compensated for the necessary sentimental moments 12 Rubin delivered a fresh draft on February 2 1991 3 He was contractually permitted to write another draft but the studio had Ramis take over bringing Rubin s involvement to an end 17 Ramis took Rubin s new draft and began his solo rewrite 4 3 He found the sentimentality and sincerity completely opposed to everything he had learned to do as a comedian and deliberately tempered the sweeter moments with a cynical and grouchy tone 12 Ramis reorganized the script into a mainstream three act narrative 18 He emphasized Phil s smug attitude as a means of distancing himself from others giving him a defined story arc as a classic comedic lead character deserving of his punishment 7 11 Ramis liked Rubin s concept of starting with the loop in progress but associate producer Whitney White suggested starting the film before the loop begins because she thought it would be more interesting for the audience to see Phil s initial reaction to his predicament 19 20 Ramis also removed Rita s boyfriend Max and introduced then removed Phil s executive producer Gil Hawley 21 This draft featured more scenes focused on Phil s sexual conquests 22 and removed some content deemed more mean spirited like Phil asking Rita to be his love slave The situation was reversed in the final version of the film in which Rita buys Phil at the bachelor auction claiming that she owns him 21 Phil s journeys outside Punxsutawney were excised as Ramis did not want the audience becoming too focused on what the rules of the loop were and felt that keeping the story within the town made it more claustrophobic 23 Phil s expositional narration was removed as well 4 20 Also excised were more scenes of Phil s later good deeds and the clever methods he used to prevent accidents while making the most efficient use of his time For example Phil puts a large rock in a road to stop a truck delivering fish on which a restaurant patron would have later choked 24 Where Rubin s original script had been more sermonic and deprecating Ramis made the tone more optimistic 19 11 Two versions of a scene with Phil and Rita in a diner from Rubin s original script left and Ramis s rewrite right exemplify the shift of emphasis toward both Phil s smugness and the romantic core of the film 7 11 Rubin s original script PHIL voice over And me and Rita together was the most obvious thing in the world PHIL Have you ever felt like you were reliving the same day over and over again RITA Like deja vu PHIL More like deja deja deja deja RITA So you still think you ve been here before Phil nods RITA And how does this evening turn out PHIL I ll tell you what I do know Even in a day as long as this even in a lifetime of endless repetition there s still room for possibilities 11 Ramis s rewrite PHIL What are you looking for Who s your perfect guy RITA Well First of all he s too humble to know he s perfect PHIL That s me RITA He s intelligent supportive funny PHIL Intelligent supportive funny Me me me RITA thinking He s romantic and courageous PHIL Me me also RITA He has a good body but he doesn t have to look in the mirror every two minutes PHIL I have a great body and I never look at it RITA He s kind and sensitive and gentle and considerate And he s not afraid to cry in front of me PHIL This is a man we re talking about right 11 It was Ramis s version that attracted Murray to the project though Murray and Ramis immediately clashed over its tone Murray wanted to focus on the philosophical elements Ramis countered that it was meant to be a comedy 3 11 21 The studio was happier with Ramis s draft believing that his changes made it more appealing to audiences 3 Columbia Pictures rehired Rubin to assess the script and provide notes Rubin returned the script with pages of honest and sometimes sarcastic notes In response Murray recommended fully rehiring Rubin to assist on the script 25 The studio refused to greenlight the project without making explicit why Phil becomes trapped 4 19 Producer Trevor Albert described a Columbia executive saying Why does the day repeat I like it but I don t understand why he gets stuck in this loop 19 Rubin had conceived of several causes for the loop including a jilted lover placing a curse on Phil and a mad scientist s invention malfunctioning 19 Albert and Ramis worked with Rubin to appease the studio while agreeing to place the scenes too late in the shooting schedule to be filmed and if forced to shoot it to simply not include it in the film 19 As the conflict between Ramis and Murray continued Ramis sent Rubin to work on the script with Murray he believed it was the only way to stop Murray s constant early morning phone calls When Ramis called to check on their progress Murray asked Rubin to pretend he was not there 3 11 The pair visited the 1992 Punxsutawney Groundhog Day festival to get a better understanding of the event remaining discreet and not revealing the reason for their visit 26 27 They then spent weeks working together in New York City revising the script 6 28 Rubin found Murray s more laid back approach to writing frustrating 29 They were still working on the script a month before filming began bringing it back closer to Rubin s original 3 Rubin and Ramis then collaborated on an additional rewrite The pair worked on individual sections and then edited each other Ramis then spent a few days refining it into the screenplay 3 4 Rubin recommended that they not include any references to the 1990s or any specific period to allow it to remain timeless 29 30 Rubin has said that the final film largely resembles his script 12 He did regret the loss of a scene between Phil and a 14 year old boy in which the child behaves like Phil did at the start of the film contrasting with Phil s character development by that point in the script 31 A few scenes were written but not filmed including Phil praying at a church gambling and a scene Murray personally vetoed of Phil stripped naked to force an elderly man out of a swimming pool 3 12 Although the script was complete it continued to undergo changes during filming 32 33 Casting edit nbsp Chris Elliott pictured in 2011 portrays Larry the cameraman For the role of Phil Connors Chevy Chase Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton were also considered 34 35 36 Hanks was Ramis s first choice but he rejected the offer rationalizing that he was typecast portraying nice people and the audience would be expecting his inevitable redemption whereas Murray was such a miserable son of a bitch on and off screen that the outcome would be less predictable Keaton said that the role of a wry sardonic glib character was a typical role for him but that he simply did not understand the film He later confessed regret in passing on the role 35 36 Phil was written as a younger man but this was changed when it was determined that the appropriate comic actors were all older 37 Murray and Ramis had a longstanding friendship and collaborative relationship having worked together since 1974 on many projects and five films to great success including Meatballs 1979 Caddyshack and Ghostbusters 1984 11 18 Rubin did not write the character as particularly nasty aiming for a normal person in an extranormal situation In casting Murray Phil was portrayed as more cynical sarcastic and detached but not so malicious that audiences would no longer support him 38 Rubin wanted Kevin Kline for the part believing Murray did not have the necessary acting ability 39 Ramis reassured Rubin saying Don t worry This is what Bill Murray can do He can be that nasty and still make you like him MacDowell agreed saying He s a jerk but he makes you laugh 38 Albert auditioned comedians for the role of Rita but determined that someone competing with Murray at comedy would be detrimental Rita was not intended to trade witty comments with Phil but instead to offer human warmth and intelligence MacDowell was cast because she was thought to bring an effortless grace suited to Rita s character MacDowell tried to adapt to Murray s natural improvisation in scenes She believed that her character s humor comes from her honesty without being outlandish 38 Singer Tori Amos was also considered for the role 40 Tobolowsky was hired after delivering an overwhelmingly obnoxious portrayal during his audition 41 Michael Shannon who portrays prospective groom Fred made his on screen acting debut in the film He spent much of the shoot in the background of the diner scene as they wanted all the actors in their places even if the camera was not focused on them 42 A live groundhog given the name Scooter was used to portray Punxsutawney Phil Punxsutawney officials upset that their town was not used for filming refused to allow the real Punxsutawney Phil to appear in the film 16 43 The groundhog itself was not specially bred for use on film and was trapped in the wild near Illinois a few weeks before filming 27 Preproduction edit nbsp The real Gobbler s Knob in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania 2012 The production wanted to use a quintessential American town for location shooting a place that did not look as if it was specific to any particular time period 7 The Pennsylvania Film Commission provided location scouting tapes of Punxsutawney but it became obvious that attempting to film in Punxsutawney would present difficulties as the town had few ideal filming locations for the scripted scenes 7 27 Punxsutawney was also too isolated from the necessary amenities The rural town was nearly 80 miles 130 km from Pittsburgh the nearest large city and did not offer sufficient accommodation for the entire cast and crew 27 44 As a Chicago native Ramis enjoyed filming in Illinois and knew the area could meet their needs 7 27 These included being closer to a major metropolitan area with access to highways a winter aesthetic and the ability to complete the production as quickly as possible 27 44 Ramis also wanted a main street like Punxsutawney s Location scout Bob Hudgins thought that Mineral Point Wisconsin could meet their requirements During the scouting journey there the team stopped in the city of Baraboo Wisconsin which happened to have a town square The filmmakers could see the benefits of a town square over a main street Ramis asked for something similar but in closer proximity to Chicago 45 By the time they arrived in Woodstock Illinois over 60 towns had been scouted Hudgins was aware of Woodstock a small town of approximately 25 000 people from his work on the 1987 comedy film Planes Trains and Automobiles Though relatively remote it offered the timeless quality the filmmakers sought After Hudgins arranged for Ramis and Albert to view the town from the bell tower of the Woodstock Opera House the decision was made to film in Woodstock 27 45 The town even came with a large pothole for Phil to step in 7 45 Scouts initially found a forested preserve area outside of McHenry Illinois to film scenes at Gobbler s Knob The filmmakers later opted to position the site in the town square instead 45 recreating it to scale with detailed notes and videos 7 27 44 which significantly increased the effect on the town Thousands of extras were on site across multiple takes Several local businesses banded together to oppose the film s presence concerned about the influence the production would have on both the town square and storefronts over an indeterminate amount of time Hudgins said that he was proud that badges with the number 23 on them representing the 23 united businesses had to be amended to 14 as he won several over The city council was also split on whether to let it proceed 45 Three of the business owners sued Columbia Pictures after filming concluded for lost profits during the production One of these cases was settled out of court the outcomes of the other two are unknown 46 Filming edit nbsp Tip Top Bistro established at the site of the fictional Tip Top Cafe in Woodstock Principal photography began on March 16 1992 and concluded on June 10 after 86 days 47 The budget was reported to be between 14 6 million and 30 million 1 27 48 Filming took place mainly in Woodstock as well as on sets in Cary Illinois and Hollywood 27 49 Weather conditions varied considerably during filming Much of the shoot was conducted in conditions described as frigid and bitterly cold 7 Murray estimated that it was often 20 F 7 C The conditions persisted until the end of May Murray said that being outside for up to 12 hours a day left his skin feeling raw and made him irritable 27 Toward the end of the shoot as summer began fake snow was used to replicate the winter setting and the actors continued to wear their winter gear despite the rising heat 42 Ramis could not decide on the weather conditions for the background of Phil s and Ned s encounters so he shot their nine scenes multiple times in differing conditions He settled on a gloomy setting to indicate a loop coming to an end 7 Weather conditions were a major factor in a two week shoot for the car crash scene 50 The shoot was also mired in tensions between Ramis and Murray Ramis was focused on making a romantic comedy in direct contrast to Murray s desire for a more contemplative film 7 51 Murray was also in the middle of a divorce from Margaret Kelly 12 He was reportedly miserable throughout filming demonstrated erratic behavior threw tantrums and often contradicted Ramis s decisions 18 51 Ramis said that Murray constantly showed up late to set calling his behavior just irrationally mean and unavailable 51 The two also disagreed about the script and other actors performances 12 Shannon recounted how he believed he had upset Murray during an encounter When Ramis heard about this he made Murray publicly apologize to Shannon 42 Tobolowsky recounted how before their scene s first take Murray walked into a bakery and bought all the pastries which he threw to the gathered onlookers using Tobolowsky to help carry the load 33 nbsp The Woodstock Opera House served as both the exterior of Rita s hotel and the scene of one of Phil s suicides The script continued to change during filming When Tobolowsky arrived for his first scene he was handed a new script He estimated that about a third of it was different from his original copy For example early in the film Phil ends his first loop by breaking a pencil to see if it is repaired the following day A more elaborate scene was filmed in which Phil spray painted the walls of the room he wakes up in destroyed objects and gave himself a Mohawk hairstyle The scene took three days to film and was costly Ramis discarded it for something quieter simpler and less manic The revised script also featured more of Phil s misadventures and his suicide attempts were set closer to the end These scenes were moved forward in favor of a long third act showing Phil embracing life 32 33 Murray endured physical discomfort for some scenes To prepare for his step into the water filled pothole he wrapped his foot in cling wrap neoprene and two pairs of socks As soon as the scene finished he began an expletive filled rant until the costume department dried his foot with hairdryers to avoid frostbite 7 For another scene Murray asked MacDowell to really slap him and Ramis instructed the children Murray confronts in a snowball fight to throw hard 38 51 During the scene in which Phil drives off with Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog bit Murray on the knuckle Despite wearing gloves the bite broke the skin It bit him again in the same spot on a later take 43 16 Murray was hesitant about shooting the final scene in which Phil awakens next to Rita as how or whether Phil was dressed would affect the tone of the revelation that he had escaped the time loop Ramis polled the crew who were split between Phil wearing the same clothes as the previous night and different clothes that suggested the pair had been intimate 7 A young female crew member served as the tiebreaker ruling that they should be wearing the same clothes as anything else will ruin the movie 7 As MacDowell s and Murray s characters venture outside the Cherry Street Inn in the film s denouement the scripted line Let s live here is tempered by a Murray ad lib We ll rent to start 52 Many locations in and around Woodstock were used in the production The Woodstock Town Square features prominently A bar in the former courthouse is used for a bar in Rita s hotel The Woodstock Opera House served as the exteriors of Rita s hotel and its tower is used for Phil s suicide leap 49 53 The Cherry Street Inn was a private residence the interior was shot on a set 49 Woodstock City Lanes was used for the bowling alley scene 53 The Tip Top Cafe a setting for several scenes was purpose built for the film Local demand later led to a real diner with a near identical name at the same location 53 54 The bachelor auction where Phil demonstrates his personal transformation was filmed at the Woodstock Moose Lodge 49 53 The scene of Phil driving a truck over a cliff was shot in Nimtz Quarry in Loves Park Illinois about 34 miles 55 km from Woodstock A rail system was used to propel two vehicles into the quarry on separate takes to give Ramis a choice of shots pyrotechnics were employed to make each explode 50 Release editContext edit See also 1993 in film nbsp The premiere of Groundhog Day took place on February 4 1993 at the Fox Theater Westwood Village in Westwood Los Angeles 1993 was considered the year of the family film 55 This was seen as a response to criticism of Hollywood for overusing violence and sex in films as well as a need for feel good entertainment in a time of recession 56 57 As production costs rose films pitched at both adults and children offered a greater chance being profitable both at the theater and in the ensuing home video rentals By 1993 the three all time highest grossing films in North America were family oriented E T the Extra Terrestrial Star Wars and Home Alone Family films encouraged repeat business and offered more opportunities to sell merchandise 56 57 Columbia Pictures chairman Mark Canton said that PG rated films were much more likely to make over 100 million compared to adult oriented fare Groundhog Day was rated PG allowing children access with parental permission The film was seen as a potential sleeper success 58 59 Groundhog Day was one of many family films released that year including Free Willy Last Action Hero and the highly anticipated Jurassic Park which would go on to become the highest grossing film to date 60 Not all releases that year were family centric it would become considered one of the greatest years for film across a range of genres 61 62 There were blockbusters like Mrs Doubtfire and Indecent Proposal critical favorites such as Schindler s List and Philadelphia 63 62 64 and future classics like Dazed and Confused Batman Mask of the Phantasm and The Nightmare Before Christmas 64 65 66 The premiere of Groundhog Day took place on February 4 1993 at the Fox Theater in Westwood Los Angeles Murray did not attend the low budget event whose guests included comedian Rodney Dangerfield and actresses Catherine O Hara Mimi Rogers and Virginia Madsen 40 000 of the entry ticket sales profits were donated to the Scleroderma Research Foundation and Turning Point Shelter 67 A second premiere took place the following day in Crystal Lake Illinois followed by an auction of props and signed equipment from the film All proceeds were donated to the Woodstock school district 46 Box office edit In North America Groundhog Day received a wide release on February 12 1993 across 1 640 theaters The film earned 12 5 million an average of 7 632 per theater The film benefited from a four day weekend due to the President s Day holiday Monday This increased its weekend total to 14 6 million enhancing the theater average to 8 934 This made it the second biggest opening for a film released in winter behind Wayne s World 18 million released the year before Groundhog Day finished as the number one film of the weekend ahead of romantic drama Sommersby 9 9 million and adventure comedy Homeward Bound The Incredible Journey 8 1 million both in their second week of release 68 69 70 Screenings of the film were approximately 80 sold out 65 of audiences polled said they would definitely recommend it 71 The film retained the number one position in its second weekend with a further gross of 9 3 million 72 In its third weekend it dropped to second place with 7 6 million behind the debuting crime thriller Falling Down 8 7 million 68 73 Groundhog Day remained in the top 10 grossing films for a further four weeks earning a total of 57 6 million It spent the remainder of its run outside the top 10 apart from two brief resurgences one during the long Easter weekend in mid April where it rose to number 2 and approximately 15 weeks into its run where it rose to number 7 after being released in low price ticket theaters 68 74 75 In total the film earned an approximate box office gross of 70 9 million 48 Though it did not break any records the film was considered a success if a modest one 30 76 77 It finished as the 10th highest grossing film of 1993 behind Free Willy 78 million and Cliffhanger 84 million 55 When accounting for films released at the end of 1993 that earned most of their box office in 1994 Groundhog Day becomes the 14th highest grossing film of 1993 63 Industry experts suggest that as of 1997 the box office returns to the studio minus the theaters share was 32 5 million 78 Outside of North America the film is estimated to have earned a further 34 2 million giving it a cumulative worldwide gross of 105 million and making it the 19th highest grossing film of the year worldwide 48 79 80 Reception editCritical reception edit nbsp Stephen Tobolowsky in 2012 His portrayal of insurance selling pest Ned Ryerson was well received 81 82 Groundhog Day received generally positive reviews from critics 83 CinemaScore polls reported that moviegoers gave it an average rating of B on a scale of A to F 84 It was seen as a significant change from the previous works of Murray and Ramis 85 Kenneth Turan appreciated it as a gentle endearing and smaller scale film 85 Hal Hinson called it the best American comedy since 1982 s Tootsie also featuring Murray He said that Groundhog Day demonstrated Ramis s capable comedic timing and offered a clever plot without pretension 86 Critics compared it to a combination of It s a Wonderful Life and the surreal science fiction horror television series The Twilight Zone 1959 82 86 87 Roger Ebert compared it to the Murray starring Christmas comedy Scrooged 1988 featuring a similar transformation from selfish to selfless He said that where that film offered a grim discontent Groundhog Day offered optimism 88 Critics agreed that the film had an obvious moral but disagreed on its presentation Desson Thomson found the film initially intriguing but believed it deteriorated into a Hollywood style morality tale 89 In Turan s opinion Groundhog Day started as a traditional Hollywood story but was earnest enough to convert the audience by the end and had a romantic innocence that prevented it becoming formulaic 85 Hinson said that the moral core of the story was never presented in a way that insulted the viewer s intelligence or required they sacrifice their cynicism to accept it He continued that Phil evolves into a better version of himself but never stops being a jerk 86 According to Janet Maslin the film balanced sentimentality and nihilism 82 The Hollywood Reporter appreciated that the film endorsed small town morals and their positive effect on Phil 87 The New Statesman argued that it appealed simultaneously to cynicism and optimism 90 The tone was described as inconsistent and the film poorly paced some scenes going on too long 81 Owen Glieberman compared it unfavorably to another time travel film Back to the Future 1985 which he found more cleverly structured He described some scenes as isolated comedy sketches rather than part of a larger narrative 91 Thomson said that the repetition of scenes worked against the film making it seem as if no progress was being made 89 Hinson countered that minor alterations to the scenes kept them interesting as part of a brilliantly imaginative and complex script 86 Some reviewers said that the humor was often mild eliciting small chuckles instead of outright hilarity 91 82 although Hinson found it to be wildly funny 86 The Hollywood Reporter wrote that it offered a range of comedy and satire all tempered by the love story between Phil and Rita 87 Critics highlighted the deeper story behind the comedy Ebert called it a comedy on the surface but with an underlying thoughtfulness 88 Maslin said that her initial impression was of a lightweight fare but it became strangely affecting 82 Murray was consistently praised for his performance 81 85 86 89 Critics were in agreement that his performance was essential to the film s success by making Phil s transformation believable 81 82 92 Gene Siskel wrote that any other actor could not have prevented the film from becoming too saccharine 92 Turan said that Murray s natural gruffness and comedic barbs prevented over sentimentality Turan also appreciated the endearing performance by Murray compared to his more abrasive past performances 85 Hinson said that Murray had never been funnier He continued that Murray was a vital component in keeping the film s optimism from seeming dishonest or manufactured Hinson liked that even after Phil s redemption he retains a cynical edge 86 Glieberman believed that Murray s indifference retains the audience s attention but added that while Murray was talented enough to play a redeemed person it was not a good fit for him 91 Ebert found Murray significantly funnier as a sarcastic antagonist than the friendly protagonist 88 Critics were enamored with MacDowell s performance Siskel said that she lit up the screen when she was on 92 Maslin called her a thorough delight saying that MacDowell s performance offered a comforting comedic presence 82 Hinson said that the on screen chemistry between MacDowell and Murray was otherworldly and that she was a perfect fit for comedy 86 Tobolowsky also received praise as a hilarious pest 81 82 Accolades edit At the 1993 New York Film Critics Circle Awards the screenplay came runner up for Best Screenplay tying with Schindler s List 93 The same year it won Best Comedy Film at the British Comedy Awards 94 In a then unprecedented move in late 1993 Columbia Pictures sent over 4 500 members of the Academy Awards voting committee a custom box containing videotapes of nine of their eligible films The campaign was estimated to have cost between 400 000 and 650 000 Groundhog Day was included among these nine films 95 96 but received no nominations at the 66th Academy Awards 97 At the 1994 BAFTA Awards Rubin and Ramis won the award for Best Original Screenplay 98 MacDowell won the award for Best Actress at the 20th Saturn Awards ceremony where Groundhog Day also received nominations for Best Fantasy Film losing to The Nightmare Before Christmas Bill Murray for Best Actor losing to Robert Downey Jr in Heart and Souls Best Writing and Best Direction losing both to Jurassic Park and Best Costumes for Jennifer Butler losing to Hocus Pocus 99 At the American Comedy Awards Murray and Elliott were nominated for respectively Funniest Actor and Funniest Supporting Actor 100 The film was nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation at the Hugo Awards losing to Jurassic Park 101 Post release editAftermath edit nbsp Author Richard A Lupoff threatened legal action against the filmmakers alleging that they had copied his own time loop based story 12 01 P M Despite its relative success a sequel was ruled out by November 1993 102 Groundhog Day was one of the films credited with helping to reverse Columbia s failures at the box office alongside the 1992 films Bram Stoker s Dracula A Few Good Men and A League of Their Own 103 Shortly after its release author Richard A Lupoff threatened legal action against the filmmakers alleging the film copied his short story 12 01 P M and its associated 1990 short film adaptation about a man stuck in a time loop The case was never formally filed as the film s production company refused to support legal action 6 104 Similarly author Leon Arden attempted legal action claiming the film plagiarized his novel One Fine Day which he had unsuccessfully pitched as a script to Columbia Pictures about a man repeating April 15 The judge ruled against Arden 104 105 Murray initially hated the finished Groundhog Day 51 In a 1993 interview he said that he wanted to focus on the comedy and the underlying theme of people repeating their lives out of fear of change Ramis wanted to focus on the redeeming power of love Even so Murray agreed that Ramis had ultimately been right to do so 43 The film marked the end of Ramis and Murray s nearly 20 year long partnership that among other things had created films like Caddyshack Stripes 1981 and Ghostbusters After filming concluded Murray stopped speaking to Ramis He never contacted Ramis and refused to speak about him in interviews 11 Ramis openly spoke about Murray both criticizing him and discussing his dreams where the pair were once again friends 18 51 Some of their close acquaintances including producer Michael Shamberg speculated that Murray had grown disillusioned with the assumption that his best work only came in collaboration with Ramis or that Ramis was responsible for Murray s public persona 11 18 Ramis said that he could make Murray as funny as possible and in return Murray s improvisational skills could save even the most lackluster of scripts 18 Murray felt that Groundhog Day had given him an opportunity to showcase a different side of himself He admitted that he was bothered by his perception that his previous films focused on jokes without offering a deeper subtext Even so he said that he had found solace in meeting the people entertained by his work 43 Ramis believed that Murray s dramatic turns in films like Lost in Translation 2003 revealed more about Murray than anything else Speaking in 2009 Ramis said that he thought Murray had grown tired of being the manic energetic person carrying a film and wanted to explore his potential 106 Ramis reached out to Murray to cast him in his 2005 black comedy The Ice Harvest Murray s brother Brian declined on his behalf When Ramis enquired further Brian said that Murray never discussed Ramis Except for a few brief exchanges at public events the pair did not speak for nearly two decades 11 They reunited only in the final few months of Ramis s life in 2014 7 107 Rubin said that Murray and his brother now speak fondly of Ramis 7 Rubin was in high demand as a screenwriter but retained his desire to tell original stories and refused to tell a traditional Hollywood narrative arc as he found defying the expected premise and structure the most interesting part This was not acceptable to studios looking for him to simply put his spin on a conventional story Eventually the offers stopped coming He continued to write scripts but none progressed In a 2017 interview Rubin admitted some regret that Groundhog Day remained his biggest success 6 Home media and rereleases edit Groundhog Day was released on VHS in early September 1993 It debuted at number 11 on the VHS rental chart rising to number 1 by the end of September replacing Falling Down 108 109 110 It remained the number 1 rental until mid October when it was knocked off the top spot by Point of No Return at number 2 and Aladdin at number 1 111 112 It was considered the most successful comedy release of late 1993 113 The film was released on DVD in 1998 114 The 2002 Special Edition DVD included the film s trailers an audio commentary by Ramis and The Weight of Time a behind the scenes documentary about the making of the film featuring cast and crew interviews 115 116 Murray did not participate 117 A 15th anniversary edition DVD was released in January 2008 118 The film was digitally remastered under Ramis s supervision This set included Ramis audio commentary and The Weight of Time and added an interview with Ramis a short documentary on groundhogs and deleted scenes 116 117 119 This version was later released on Blu ray disc in 2009 with an additional picture in picture feature with Tobolowsky reprising his role as Ned to provide facts about the film 120 To celebrate the film s 25th anniversary in February 2018 a remastered 4k resolution version of the film was released in select theaters 121 In April 2018 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a special one night screening of the remastered film at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills California 122 The remastered version was also released as an Ultra HD Blu ray disc Blu ray disc and a digital download It included the same extras as the 15th anniversary edition 116 To celebrate the film s 30th anniversary the film was released in select theaters for two days in February 2023 with one of those days being February 2 Groundhog Day 123 Analysis editTime loop duration edit The duration of Phil s real time entrapment in the time loop has been the subject of much discussion 35 124 Ramis once said that he believed the film took place over ten years 35 When a blogger estimated the actual length to be approximately nine years Ramis disputed that estimate and his own He replied that it takes at least 10 years to become good at an activity such as Phil learning ice sculpting and to speak French and allotting for the down time and misguided years he spent it had to be more like 30 or 40 years 125 A similar estimate suggests that it takes at least 10 000 hours of study just over a year s worth of time to become an expert in a field and given the number of loops seen or mentioned on screen and how long Phil could spend per day studying that Phil spent approximately 12 400 days or nearly 34 years trapped in the loop 124 In Rubin s original concept draft Phil himself estimates that he has been trapped for between 70 and 80 years having used books to track the passage of time 3 Born to a Jewish family Ramis had adopted a Buddhist lifestyle from his second wife embracing some of its precepts 11 126 127 He said that based on Buddhist doctrine it takes approximately 10 000 years for a soul to evolve to the next level 7 In 2005 Rubin said it became this weird political issue because if you asked the studio How long was the repetition they d say Two weeks But the point of the movie to me was that you had to feel you were enduring something that was going on for a long time For me it had to be I don t know A hundred years A lifetime 128 In his book Groundhog Day Ryan Gilbey thought the vagueness surrounding the length of the loop was one of the most remarkable elements of the film Just as there is no justification for why or how Phil is caught in the loop the length of time is only as long as it takes for Phil to become a better person 30 Thematic analysis edit nbsp A 9th century bodhisattva bas relief The character of Phil Connors has been interpreted as a bodhisattva someone who helps others reach nirvana The film has been interpreted in many ways by different groups 6 11 Rubin has said that he did not set out to write the film as a spiritual allegory He simply wanted to tell a story about human life and periods when a person becomes trapped in a cycle that they cannot escape 129 He said it was not just about a man repeating the same day but a story about how to live Whose life isn t a series of days Who doesn t feel stuck from time to time 4 In the bowling alley scene Phil asks two Punxsutawney residents if they understand what it is like to be stuck in a place where nothing they do matters He is referring to his own situation but the two men trapped in their own small town lives know exactly what he means 82 While Rubin and Ramis discussed several of the philosophical and spiritual aspects of the film they never intended it to be anything more than a good heartfelt entertaining story 4 Murray saw the original script as an interpretation of how people repeat the same day over and over because they are afraid of change 43 Rubin added that at the start of the loop it is the worst day of Phil s life By being forced to change who he is to embrace the world around him and each moment of his day it becomes the best day of his life the day he falls in love 5 In a 2017 interview Murray said he believed Groundhog Day still resonated because it is about the idea that we just have to try again it s such a beautiful powerful idea 130 Rubin has been contacted throughout the years by different experts providing their own interpretations 131 It has been seen as a Christian allegory with Punxsutawney Phil representing Jesus Christ 131 an example of the Nietzschean concept of eternal return the spirit of Judaism and the essence of homeopathy 5 6 It has also been interpreted as an adaptation of the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus who is also condemned to an eternal daily punishment 132 133 Others have found significance in the numbers present in the film 6 Ramis himself was fascinated by Rubin s original draft and its concepts of reincarnation 134 The date of Groundhog Day also has implications It is set between the end of winter characterized in the film as a period of satire and the end of things and spring a season represented by comedy and connected with themes of renewal and redemption 135 Buddhist leaders commended the representation of the ideologies of regeneration Phil can be interpreted as a bodhisattva someone who has reached the brink of Nirvana and returns to Earth to help others to do the same In the Jewish faith Phil s escape or reward can be seen as him being returned to Earth to perform moral deeds or mitzvot the precepts and commandments of God In Christianity his journey can be interpreted as a form of resurrection or a means of securing a place in heaven In Falun Gong religious philosophy the film has been interpreted as a message that the spiritual self cannot evolve until it learns from past mistakes 131 134 136 In Catholicism Phil s situation can be identified as a form of purgatory escaped only by embracing selflessness 127 MacDowell said Wouldn t it be great if we had that kind of experience and learn something from it We go through life and are not always conscious of it whatever religion you want to base yourself in that s ultimately why we re here 134 Groundhog Day can also be interpreted as a secular tale in which Phil is experiencing an existential crisis where primal self indulgence is no longer satisfying causing him to fall into a depression that he escapes by taking ownership of his own self improvement he then uses his improved persona to benevolently help others 137 Phil initially compares himself to a god declaring that as a weatherman he makes the weather 134 After several loops he comes to believe he is a god asserting that omnipotence may be mistaken for having lived so long one simply knows everything 127 Using his knowledge he is able to manipulate events in his favor 126 The repetition gives Phil an opportunity to escape from his own narcissistic self confinement Unwilling to change himself the means to do so are forced upon him 126 After constant rejection by Rita and his idea of love Phil hits an emotional low and repeatedly commits suicide At one point he suggests that he has killed himself enough times to no longer exist It is at this point Ramis suggests that Phil becomes ready to change 126 132 It is only when Phil stops using the loops to indulge his own desires and instead uses them to selflessly help others that he is freed 12 In repeatedly failing to save the old homeless man Phil is also forced to accept that he is not a god 138 Similarly regardless of how much knowledge he gains about Rita and despite his accomplishments learned throughout the loops he is unable to impress her enough to earn her love He wins her over only once he stops trying to do so and instead demonstrates genuine care for others without fakery or self interest will likely reset and it will have all been for naught Only then does Rita return his affections 11 12 132 The aspects of Rita that Phil mocked at the start of the film have become qualities he admires and respects and in turn Phil receives Rita s love not because he desires it but because he has genuinely become the type of person that Rita could love 139 This demonstrates the redeeming power of love something Ramis wanted to emphasize 43 132 For him Groundhog Day represents having the strength and knowledge to make a change when faced with the opportunity to repeat previous mistakes 126 Rick Brookhiser argues that it is because Phil fully appreciates every facet of the day that he is rewarded by the day being taken from him He said loving life includes loving the fact that it goes 127 John Seamon said that where other films use memory as a means of reflection or escape Phil effectively lives within his memories repeating them indefinitely he has no hope for a future because everything will reset By remembering and appreciating new details Phil is able to grow as a person and becomes the agent of his own change 140 Rubin said Phil will not return to his old ways after his experiences but might suffer disappointment that no day will ever live up to his final perfect February 2 after which he essentially loses his superpowers 141 Legacy edit nbsp A floor positioned plaque in Woodstock Illinois commemorating the pothole Bill Murray s character steps in during Groundhog Day Groundhog Day is considered one of the most beloved comedy films ever made an all time classic and a pop culture touchstone 7 142 143 In 2020 Paste described it as having a mythic permanent pop cultural status reserved for few films 77 The film s success made Ramis a credible comedy director opening up more creative opportunities for him 144 145 Over the rest of the 1990s he would direct 1996 s Multiplicity also starring MacDowell 1999 s Analyze This and 2000 s Bedazzled 11 145 Groundhog Day also showcased Murray s capabilities as an actor changing perceptions of him as a comedian to a broad ranged actor and credible romantic lead His performance is seen as a transitioning point to later roles in serious films like Rushmore 1998 his Academy Award nominated performance in Lost in Translation and Moonrise Kingdom 2012 30 Rubin started a blog in 2007 that featured fictional conversations between himself and Phil Connors who had since retired to live on a mountainside near Taos New Mexico Rubin taught screenwriting at Harvard University for several years 6 Its impact on Woodstock and Punxsutawney was lasting and significant Since the film s release Woodstock has hosted its own Groundhog Day festivals These have included groundhog Woodstock Willie 49 screenings of the film and walking tours of filming locations 53 The town attracts approximately 1 000 tourists for its yearly event which has featured appearances by Albert Rubin and Tobolowsky 7 Punxsutawney which once drew only a few hundred visitors to its festival has since attracted tens of thousands The year following the film s release over 35 000 people visited the town for Groundhog Day 4 7 Residents appreciate the film s impact on the town but assert that their focus remains on Punxsutawney Phil and the long lived festival 7 In Woodstock plaques are positioned at key locations used in the film commemorating moments including Phil meeting Ned the pothole in which Phil trips and the town square pavilion where Phil and Rita share a dance 49 146 As of 2016 Rubin continued to receive mail from fans philosophers and religious leaders their content ranged from simple letters to sermons and dissertations He has spoken of psychiatrists who recommend the film to their patients and addicts who have told him that it helped them realize they were trapped in a repeating cycle of their own 4 6 Some time after the film s release Murray changed his opinion about it He called it probably the best work I ve done adding and probably the best work Harold will ever do 30 147 In 2018 Tobolowsky said I think Murray s performance in Groundhog Day will stand as one of the greatest comedic performances of all time He is able to be both antagonist and protagonist at the same time in the same film He s everything that s horrible and everything that s wonderful I think it s gonna stand up as long as films are made 7 The city of Chicago made a proclamation on February 2 2024 as Harold Ramis Day in a ceremony joined by Murray Ramis widow Erica Mann Ramis and other actors from the film 148 Critical reassessment edit Groundhog Day is considered one of the greatest films ever made 64 127 149 150 151 Rotten Tomatoes assesses a 94 approval rating from the aggregated reviews of 140 critics with an average rating of 7 9 10 The consensus reads Smart sweet and inventive Groundhog Day highlights Murray s dramatic gifts while still leaving plenty of room for laughs 152 The film has a score of 72 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 15 critics indicating generally favorable reviews 153 In 2004 The New Yorker called it Ramis s masterpiece 11 In 2005 as part of his The Great Movies series Ebert raised his original score for the film from three stars to a full four stars 5 In this updated review Ebert said that he had underestimated the film and noted that Murray s performance was essential to making the film work 6 149 That same year Jonah Goldberg called it one of the best films of the previous 40 years positioning it alongside It s a Wonderful Life as one of America s most uplifting and timeless films 127 In 2009 literary theorist Stanley Fish listed it as one of the ten best American films He wrote The comedy and the philosophy how shall one live do not sit side by side but inhabit each other in a unity that is incredibly satisfying 154 It is listed in the 2013 film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die which says Bill Murray gives what may be the best and warmest performance of his career in this genius comedy arguably the best of the 1990s 155 The Guardian attributes its lasting appeal to its use of a classic redemption arc like Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol and its refusal to explain why the loop occurs making it less like a typical mainstream film 30 In 2000 the American Film Institute AFI ranked Groundhog Day number 34 on its 100 Years 100 Laughs list recognizing the best comedy films 156 In 2005 the film s screenplay was listed as the twenty seventh greatest screenplay of the preceding 75 years on the Writers Guild of America s WGA 101 Greatest Screenplays list 157 158 In a 2008 AFI poll of 1 500 industry members Groundhog Day was ranked as the eighth best fantasy film 159 160 That same year Empire listed the film 259th on its list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time 150 In 2014 a poll of 2 120 entertainment industry members by The Hollywood Reporter ranked it the 63rd best film of all time 151 In 2015 the screenplay was listed as the third funniest on the WGA s 101 Funniest Screenplays list behind Some Like It Hot 1958 and Annie Hall 1977 161 162 In 2017 the BBC polled 253 critics 118 female 135 male from across 52 countries on the funniest film made Groundhog Day came fourth behind Annie Hall Dr Strangelove 1964 and Some Like It Hot 163 Several publications have ranked it as one of the greatest comedy films of all time including number one by Empire 2019 164 number five by Time Out 165 number 10 by Rotten Tomatoes 166 number 11 by IGN 167 number 18 by Paste 168 number 23 by The Daily Telegraph 169 and unranked by Film School Rejects and Vogue 170 171 Rotten Tomatoes also listed the film number 86 on its list of 200 essential movies to watch 172 Similarly it has been ranked as one of the greatest films of the 1990s including number 4 by IndieWire 173 number 5 by Slate 174 number 11 by Rolling Stone 175 number 12 by ShortList 176 number 15 by The A V Club 177 number 28 by Rotten Tomatoes 178 number 41 by Slant Magazine 179 number 55 by the British Film Institute 180 and unranked by Time Out 181 Cultural impact edit nbsp Andie MacDowell with a groundhog on Groundhog Day 2008 William Goldman in 1993 said I think Groundhog Day is the one that will be of all of the movies that came out this year it s the one that will be remembered in 10 years 5 The same year Desson Thomson opined Groundhog will never be designated a national film treasure by the Library of Congress 89 In 2006 the film was selected by the United States Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being culturally historically or aesthetically significant 182 Several filmmakers have spoken of their appreciation for Groundhog Day or cited it as an inspiration in their own careers including David O Russell Terry Jones 30 and Jay Roach Roach called it the film that changed him 11 Gillian Wearing called it one of her favorite films citing its unusual structure and intelligent philosophical message 30 The film s success helped to legitimize the use of fantasy in mainstream comedy films laying the groundwork for future fantasy comedies such as Liar Liar 1997 The Truman Show 1998 and Click 2006 30 The phrase Groundhog Day has become a common term to reference a repetitive unpleasant and monotonous situation 30 183 It is recognized by dictionaries under two definitions the holiday itself and a situation in which events are or appear to be continually repeated 184 185 186 The term s use is such that it has been defined as a cliche to refer to a situation in this way 186 It has been invoked sometimes inaccurately by singers sports stars comedians actors politicians 143 187 archbishops 147 and former Guantanamo Bay detention camp inmates 188 Then President Bill Clinton referenced the film in a 1996 speech to troops stationed in Bosnia 189 The term was used during the 2020 COVID 19 pandemic to refer to the monotony of quarantine and isolation associated with attempts to stem the spread of the virus 190 191 The narrative concept of someone trapped in a repeating segment of time can be traced back to 1904 and is a popular trope particularly in science fiction 6 142 Groundhog Day was responsible for popularizing the idea to the general public 192 193 194 Time loops have since been used in several films including Naken 2000 Source Code 2011 Edge of Tomorrow 2014 Happy Death Day 2017 and its sequel and Palm Springs 2020 192 195 television shows including Russian Doll 192 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Angel and The X Files 193 and video games including The Legend of Zelda Majora s Mask Outer Wilds and Deathloop 196 197 These narratives often involve a central flawed character who must evolve to escape their chronological imprisonment 192 The influence of Groundhog Day is such that TV Tropes refers to this narrative arc as the Groundhog Day Loop 193 Rubin noted that with his script he stumbled upon a story with all the makings of a classic so simple and true that it could be retold many different ways by many different storytellers 4 It has been referenced across a range of media including the 1998 novel About a Boy 198 the music video for the Craig David song 7 Days and the Doctor Who audio drama Flip Flop that features a time loop on the planet Punxsutawnee 199 Writing for IGN Michael Swaim postulated that since Groundhog Day popularized the time loop narrative it had increased in mainstream popularity in part due to the Flynn effect a statement on the increasing IQ of the population that meant audiences could easily follow the more complex narratives and the desire for nostalgia in the postmodern era of the early 21st century 200 On February 2 2016 fans in Liverpool England gathered to watch the film repeatedly for 24 hours 201 Since February 2 that year apart from 2017 Sky Cinema has played the film on repeat for 24 hours 202 203 204 In 2018 the New York Museum of Modern Art debuted a series of films chosen by polling 35 literary and religious scholars which started with Groundhog Day There was conflict between the scholars as so many of them wanted to write about the film for the presentation 127 Adaptations editSee also Groundhog Day musical A sequel was ruled out shortly after the film s release in 1993 102 Rubin also holds a story credit on the 2004 Italian remake of Groundhog Day called E gia ieri translated as It s Already Yesterday and commonly known as Stork Day 6 40 When asked about a sequel in 2018 MacDowell said it would never happen because I know Murray He s not going to do it 205 Despite this Murray Tobolowsky and Doyle Murray reprised their roles in a commercial for the Jeep Gladiator played during Super Bowl LIV on February 2 2020 Filmed in Woodstock the commercial recreates scenes from the film and features Murray again trapped in a time loop He uses the Jeep Gladiator to explore Punxsutawney alongside Punxsutawney Phil 206 207 Murray called it his first and last commercial 208 In April 2020 Jeep released a series of modified versions of the advert to promote social distancing during the 2020 COVID 19 pandemic Murray provided creative input on the edit 190 209 In the years since the film s release Rubin had worked on a musical adaptation of Groundhog Day partly out of boredom and partly because a musical was not covered by the rights he had signed over to Columbia 4 6 In 2003 Stephen Sondheim expressed interest creating a musical but this project was never realized 210 When Matthew Warchus and Tim Minchin approached Rubin in 2012 he had already developed a narrative outline jokes and a refined list of 12 songs 4 6 He had been unable to progress the idea further without a composer Coming off the success of Matilda the Musical Warchus and Minchin collaborated with Rubin for several years to produce the Groundhog Day musical 6 The musical debuted in August 2016 at The Old Vic theatre in London to generally positive reviews 6 211 A Broadway version started running in 2017 212 The show was nominated in several categories at the 2017 Laurence Olivier 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from the original on April 1 2019 Retrieved January 20 2021 Groundhog Day musical to premiere at Old Vic from Matilda theatre director The Independent April 20 2015 Archived from the original on March 31 2019 Retrieved May 5 2020 Photo Flash Welcome to Smalltown USA First Look at Groundhog Day on Broadway BroadwayWorld March 28 2017 Archived from the original on October 13 2018 Retrieved May 5 2020 Olivier Awards 2017 Winners in full BBC News Online April 10 2017 Archived from the original on May 24 2019 Retrieved May 5 2020 Deb Sopan December 13 1993 Bill Murray Relives a Role Seeing Broadway s Groundhog Day The New York Times Archived from the original on January 15 2019 Retrieved April 25 2020 Zweiden Zack February 2 2019 Groundhog Day Like Father Like Son Is A PSVR Game And A Sequel To The Bill Murray Film Kotaku Archived from the original on February 3 2019 Retrieved February 2 2019 Orland Kyle February 2 2019 26 years later Groundhog Day gets revived as a VR game Ars Technica Archived from the original on February 5 2019 Retrieved February 2 2019 Wolfe Hunter February 28 2019 Groundhog Day Like Father Like Son Game Informer Archived from the original on August 21 2019 Retrieved May 5 2020 Groundhog Day Like Father Like Son PlayStation 4 Metacritic Archived from the original on October 22 2020 Retrieved February 2 2021 Works cited editGilbey Ryan 2004 Groundhog Day London British Film Institute ISBN 978 1 84457 032 4 Retrieved July 5 2020 Glausser Wayne 2019 Groundhog Day at 25 Conflict and Inspiration at the Tipping Point of Seasonal Genres Journal of Religion and Film 23 1 Omaha Nebraska University of Nebraska Omaha Archived from the original on July 5 2020 Retrieved July 5 2020 Klady Leonard January 3 1994 Top 100 Pix Take 8 bil globally Variety Vol 353 Los Angeles California pp 1 42 ISSN 0042 2738 Racicot William 2006 Anything Different is Good Incremental Repetition Courtly Love and Purgatory in Groundhog Day In Marshall David W ed Mass Market Medieval Essays on the Middle Ages in Popular Culture Jefferson North Carolina McFarland Publishing ISBN 978 0 78642 922 6 Retrieved July 5 2020 Schneider Steven Jay 2013 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Boston Massachusetts Murdoch Books Pty Limited ISBN 978 0 7641 6613 6 Seamon John 2015 Memory and Movies What Films Can Teach Us about Memory Cambridge Massachusetts MIT Press ISBN 978 0 26202 971 1 Slahi Mohamedou Ould 2015 Guantanamo Diary New York City Little Brown and Company ISBN 978 0 316 32860 9 Eagan Daniel 2010 America s Film Legacy The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry London A amp C Black pp 811 812 ISBN 978 0 8264 2977 3 Ginsberg Steve 2006 Groundhog Day PDF Washington D C United States National Film Registry Archived PDF from the original on July 13 2019 Rubin Danny 2012 How to Write Groundhog Day Ventura California Triad Publishing ASIN B0072PEV6U External links editGroundhog Day at IMDb nbsp Groundhog Day at the TCM Movie Database Groundhog Day at AllMovie Groundhog Day at the American Film Institute Catalog Portals nbsp 1990s nbsp Film nbsp United States nbsp FantasyGroundhog Day film at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Definitions from Wiktionary nbsp Media from Commons nbsp News from Wikinews nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Data from Wikidata Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Groundhog Day film amp oldid 1223264092 Groundhog Day Like Father Like Son, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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