Groundhog Day (film)
Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy and 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 February2 repeatedly. The film also features Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Marita Geraghty, Angela Paton, Rick Ducommun, Rick Overton, and Robin Duke in supporting roles.
Rubin conceived 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. Murray clashed with Ramis over the script; he 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 premiered at the Fox Village Theatre on February 4, 1993 and was released by Columbia Pictures on February 12. Earning over $105million, it became one of the year's highest-grossing films. It also received generally positive reviews. Critics praised the melding of sentimental and cynical moments, and the philosophical message beneath the comedy. It was nominated for multiple awards and won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film marked the end of Murray and Ramis's longtime collaborative partnership, which had produced films like Caddyshack and Ghostbusters. 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 among the greatest films of the 1990s and one of the greatest comedy films. 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, and popularizing time loop narratives. 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
On February1, cynical 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.On February2, 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 February2. 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 once again.
Realizing that there are no consequences for his actions, Phil begins to spend 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's 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 February2 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 February2. 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. Regardless of his positive actions, however, he is haunted by his inability 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
- 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
Production
Concept and original draft
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. 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. 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. He singled out men he deemed to be in arrested development, who could not outlive their adolescence.Having recently sold his first script for what would become the thriller film Hear No Evil, 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. He believed that the repetition also offered him more dramatic and comedic possibilities.
Rubin opened a calendar and picked the next nearest holiday, February2, 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. 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. He hoped the film could become a perennial holiday favorite, like It's a Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Rubin spent eight weeks working on the story: seven making notes to define the rules and characters, and one writing the script. 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." He chose to begin the story in medias res, with Phil already caught in the time loop. 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. 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. 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.
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. Loops were also dedicated to Phil seeing how far he could get outside of Punxsutawney; inevitably, he was always returned to the town. 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.