Rewind
Columbia Pictures
From its start, “Groundhog Day” was rooted in the Chicago improv comedy scene. In the mid ’80s, Rubin was an improv artist and struggling local TV news freelancer in Chicago. Like Murray, Ramis made his bones at Second City, where he met his frequent collaborator, John Belushi. The premise of “Groundhog Day” is itself a callback to “rewind,” an improv format used by Second City players. The practice sets up a scene, the players perform it and when someone says “rewind,” the scene starts over in a different direction (via Chicago Tribune).
You can see Murray deploy the rewind technique throughout the film, bumping into Ned Ryerson every morning but trudging through the snow one day, trying to dodge him the next and finally deciding to embrace him. One of those moments is an example of where Murray went off script (via Good Housekeeping). When Ryerson once again greets Phil, Murray ad-libbed “Ned Ryerson! I have missed you. I don’t know where you’re headed. Can you call in sick?” Other famous lines like “Don’t drive angry!” and the final line, “We’ll rent to start” are off-the-cuff Murray quips. As film critic Ryan Gilbey writes in “Groundhog Day,” the actor’s contributions amounted to more than a few wisecracks.
“Many of Phil’s lines would be improvised by Murray, who sharpens the script’s vague asides into poisonous zingers … Other improvements are too numerous to list. Let us all simply be thankful that Bill Murray exists. Without him, comic improvisation would be a mediocre discipline in which pretty good might be good enough.”
Bureaucracy Stopped Bill Murray From Getting Full Credit For Groundhog Day
Columbia Pictures
By Leigh Giangreco/June 29, 2022 2:36 pm EST
In an interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” the late director told Terry Gross that he wanted to give Rubin’s contemporary spin on “It’s a Wonderful Life” by adding more humor. Bill Murray, an alumnus of Chicago’s famous Second City improv troupe, improvised many of Phil Connors’ lines on set but was never given a co-writing credit due to the union’s rules.
“I rewrote it myself and again got writing credit from the Writers Guild and then brought Danny back and rewrote it with Danny again. And then, on the set, of course, Bill Murray makes invaluable contributions, which would be credited if the Guild rules were not so strict … I think when an actor improvises that brilliantly, you know, the Guild should have a way to recognize that. But they don’t because there are these quantitative measures that they use.
Rewind
From its start, “Groundhog Day” was rooted in the Chicago improv comedy scene. In the mid ’80s, Rubin was an improv artist and struggling local TV news freelancer in Chicago. Like Murray, Ramis made his bones at Second City, where he met his frequent collaborator, John Belushi. The premise of “Groundhog Day” is itself a callback to “rewind,” an improv format used by Second City players. The practice sets up a scene, the players perform it and when someone says “rewind,” the scene starts over in a different direction (via Chicago Tribune).
You can see Murray deploy the rewind technique throughout the film, bumping into Ned Ryerson every morning but trudging through the snow one day, trying to dodge him the next and finally deciding to embrace him. One of those moments is an example of where Murray went off script (via Good Housekeeping). When Ryerson once again greets Phil, Murray ad-libbed “Ned Ryerson! I have missed you. I don’t know where you’re headed. Can you call in sick?” Other famous lines like “Don’t drive angry!” and the final line, “We’ll rent to start” are off-the-cuff Murray quips. As film critic Ryan Gilbey writes in “Groundhog Day,” the actor’s contributions amounted to more than a few wisecracks.
“Many of Phil’s lines would be improvised by Murray, who sharpens the script’s vague asides into poisonous zingers … Other improvements are too numerous to list. Let us all simply be thankful that Bill Murray exists. Without him, comic improvisation would be a mediocre discipline in which pretty good might be good enough.”
You can see Murray deploy the rewind technique throughout the film, bumping into Ned Ryerson every morning but trudging through the snow one day, trying to dodge him the next and finally deciding to embrace him. One of those moments is an example of where Murray went off script (via Good Housekeeping). When Ryerson once again greets Phil, Murray ad-libbed “Ned Ryerson! I have missed you. I don’t know where you’re headed. Can you call in sick?”
Other famous lines like “Don’t drive angry!” and the final line, “We’ll rent to start” are off-the-cuff Murray quips. As film critic Ryan Gilbey writes in “Groundhog Day,” the actor’s contributions amounted to more than a few wisecracks.
“Many of Phil’s lines would be improvised by Murray, who sharpens the script’s vague asides into poisonous zingers … Other improvements are too numerous to list. Let us all simply be thankful that Bill Murray exists. Without him, comic improvisation would be a mediocre discipline in which pretty good might be good enough.”
Rom-com improv
It’s a tragedy that Murray didn’t get a writing credit on “Groundhog Day.” His monologue helped give the movie its heart and his wry wit delivered its best lines. Regardless of guild rules, it’s improvisational humor like that which makes us want to rewatch “Groundhog Day” again and again and again.
