Here we go again. The idea behind “Groundhog Day”it is beautiful in its simplicity. An egotistic, narcissistic man finds he is stuck in the same time loop as Groundhog Day until he realizes he is a better person.
But more than a quarter century after the 1993 movie’s release, producer Trevor Albert and screenwriter Danny Rubin had the same horror story about the film’s development that other filmmakers have dealt with over and over again.
“Somebody whose name I won’t say said, ‘Why does the day repeat? Why the hell … I like it, it’s good, but I don’t understand why he gets stuck in this loop,” Albert told about an executive at Columbia’s note regarding the script.
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There’s no specific reason given for why Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is caught in the time loop. “Groundhog Day” succeeds because the screenplay doesn’t pander to the audience by providing an explanation, and it avoids the need for Phil to spend the movie constantly chasing some meaningless goal.
But that reasoning wasn’t good enough for the studio.
“‘Is it aliens that put a hex on him or what the f—, does he fall into some weird chemical?’” Albert recalled being asked. “They wanted some tangible event to occur in the first act that shows someone has put a spell on him. And that was like, ‘F— no.’ There’s no freaking way. That really is pandering to the audience.”
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Rubin dreaded the day that he would get word from the studio that his screenplay needed to be rewritten, knowing they would want a reason for Phil’s affliction. He preemptively imagined a wrinkle, a mad scientist with a flawed invention or a scorned lover who puts a curse on him.
“I played with all these ideas and I said it’s so arbitrary! It’s so stupid,”Rubin stated. “Why do I have to choose?”
Rubin had already fought to finish his first draft. “Groundhog Day”A general audience will find the film more approachable. The film’s first version begins with Phil repeating the day. “I don’t know when it began. It might’ve been a year ago, it might’ve been 500 years ago,” a voiceover for Phil’s character says in the original draft. It was hard to believe that Phil already knew all the details. It wasn’t until page 10 that you realized the day was repeating.
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But when that idea wasn’t working out, the film’s associate producer Whitney White floated the idea that the movie should begin before the day starts repeating, offering the catharsis of seeing him freak out.
“It didn’t emphasize the same kind of set up that a romantic comedy has … the same level of sentimentality, and Harold [Ramis] brought that to it very much,”Rubin spoke about his original draft. “He brought a certain warmth to it where I was a little snide or arrogant in the way I presented it.”
“It seemed like a very elegant solution to taking a movie that felt a little indie and making it more accessible,”Albert spoke. “The studio was delighted by that turn of events. You guys are playing ball with us. You’re making this a little easier for the audience to digest. Ultimately, it wasn’t a compromise. It actually made the script better.”
But the studio refused to green light the movie unless they agreed to write an additional scene explaining Phil’s predicament.
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“We were horrified by it, but our solution was, let’s get the scene written. We’ll give it to them, but we’ll put that scene at the end of the schedule, and we’ll never shoot it. Or if we have to shoot it, we’ll never put it in the movie,” Albert explained.
“And then I got the call. The studio, they want a reason. And I’m like, ‘What, a gypsy curse or something?’ And Trevor goes, ‘Yeah! Do that,’”Rubin. “I was very happy to have Harold as an ally, and Trevor. They both understood that was a better idea than putting something in.”
We were fortunate because Rubin describes that not answering the question about how he was cursed was, in a certain way, an error. “existentially perfect” solution.
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“How did any of us get here? We’re born into a life with certain rules, and we try and figure them out and out-smart them and become the victim of them and ultimately, hopefully come to peace with it and find a way through,”Rubin.
This story was first published on the film’s 25th anniversary in 2018.
‘Groundhog Day’ and 14 other movies which repeat the same day repeatedly (Photos).
A movie is special when it’s described as such by its viewers “Groundhog Day”It was… something you wouldn’t expect. These are just a few films that were inspired or informed by a similar time loop story to the Bill Murray romcom classic.
Columbia Pictures Corporation
“12:01” (1993) • This is the short story “12:01”It actually predates the invention. “Groundhog Day”Nearly 20 years. It’s about a man caught reliving the worst day of his life when his wife is shot and killed. He is shocked at midnight with an electric shock and relives the day before, only to find that things are worse.
New Line Television
“Run Lola Run” (1998) • Tom Tykwer’s action classic takes the time looping premise and turns it into a kinetic, real-time thrill ride. Lola, the title character, goes on a 20 minute dash. Each time it is repeated, there are slight changes to the story that incite ideas about parallel realities or moral choice.
Sony Pictures Classics
“50 First Dates” (2004) • Adam Sandler is the perfect man to create another rom-com imitation. “Groundhog Day” premise. In this one, Drew Barrymore only thinks she’s living the same day over and over because she has an affliction in which she can’t remember the previous day, but it doesn’t stop Sandler from trying to win her over. Short-term memory loss is a real thing, but not Barrymore’s specific affliction.
Columbia Pictures Corporation
“Primer” (2004) • One of the more creative indie time travel stories you’re likely to see, Shane Carruth’s lo-fi thriller is a densely plotted science fiction story about two entrepreneurial inventors who accidentally invent a device that allows them to travel back in time for a few hours at a time. Carruth keeps us in the dark as to what they’ve actually invented until well into the film, and it maintains its tension as it evolves into a character study of these two men trying to double cross the other.
THINKFilm
“Source Code” (2011) • Jake Gyllenhaal wakes up in someone else’s body eight minutes before a terrorist attack blows up the train he’s riding on. It’s his job to use that time to find the terrorist and stop the attack. The movie’s first eight minutes are its best when he realizes that he’s living someone else’s final moments. Duncan Jones uses the sci fi set as a metaphor for both the frustration of being used to create alternate realities and the nature free will.
Summit Entertainment
“Edge of Tomorrow” a.k.a. “Live. Die. Repeat.” (2014) • This is one of Tom Cruise’s most underrated roles. We see him dying in an endless loop while he tries learn how to win against aliens. Each life is like a videogame where he gains experience and moves closer to winning. But its charm comes from a sardonic sense of humor and Cruise’s relationship with a hard-nosed soldier played by Emily Blunt. She ends up killing him during training more than the aliens.
Warner Bros. Pictures
“Naked” (2017) • It’s “Groundhog Day”Without clothes! Phil Connors at least didn’t have to relive the same humiliation Marlon Wayans does, where he wakes up naked hours before his wedding day and has to repeat things over and over until he gets things right. This film is actually a remake from a Swedish movie from 2000.
Netflix
“Before I Fall” (2017) • What if? “Groundhog Day”was about a mean boy? Stars as Zoey Deutch, a San Francisco teenager with a “perfect” high school life until she’s killed in a car accident. After she dies again, she begins to reassess and decipher the mystery surrounding her accident.
Open Road Films/Universal Pictures
“Happy Death Day”2017 “Happy Death Day 2U” (2019) • “Happy Death Day”Horror movie about Jessica Rothe, who must relive a crime committed by a child killer until she is able to outsmart him. Following the success of the original film, the sequel was released. “Happy Death Day 2U,”Rothe dies again, in a wink at the premise. She and her friends find themselves in this deadly death loop again.
Universal Pictures
“See You Yesterday” (2019) • Stefon Bristol’s time-travel Netflix drama, produced by Spike Lee, features two high-school science geniuses (Eden Duncan-Smith and Dante Crichlow) who keep traveling back to the same day when their first trip back in time ends in tragedy. It blends criticisms of racial profiling, over-policing, and light moments with a cameo appearance from Dante Crichlow. “Back to the Future”Michael J. Fox.
Netflix
“The Obituary of Tunde Johnson” (2019) • TIFF’s drama tells the story about a black and gay teenager who is murdered in an unprovoked act of police brutality. Then, he wakes up the next morning to relive his death.
Toronto Film Review
“Palm Springs” (2020) • Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg star in this film, which was released at Sundance for $17.5 million. Milioti stars in the sci-fi comedy as a woman who is afraid of attending a marriage, but Samberg draws her to him and gets caught up in his endless time loop. “Palm Springs”This show explores personal trauma and depression as well as guilt, with many other bizarre set pieces and dance numbers.
Sundance Institute
“The Map of Tiny Perfect Things” (2021) • “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things”Name-drop directly “Groundhog Day”And “Edge of Tomorrow”But is a coming-of age comedy about two 17-year olds who are the only ones to be aware that they are in the time loop. Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen star in the film.
Amazon Studios
Let’s do the time loop again
A movie is special when it’s described as such by its viewers “Groundhog Day”You wouldn’t believe what it was when you merged with… Here’s a list of movies that were inspired by, or inspired by, a similar time loop story like the Bill Murray rom-com masterpiece.