the groundhog day project

Notes on the final revision of Groundhog Day screenplay, continued . There’s no reading of Hustler , just going back to his room to have a shower (p. 24). But, the Hustler bit gets lost in the film anyway. Seriously, just watch. Rita starts to get up almost as soon as he starts answering her question. She’s not very nice. Page 34, Phil does the interviewing the groundhog thing. He knows where the groundhog is going to run, so he gets there first. Then Phil talks to Phil: PHIL Since I have you here, I gotta ask—is this shadow thing legit, or did you look at satellite photos like the rest of us? This is only the first resumption, by the way. The script is taking its time a lot more than the film does. Both the pencil breaking (p. 35) and the room demolition (pp. 41-42) happen. There was some confusion a while back over whether or not they filmed the demolition scene at all, recall . In the film, there’s only one “Phil? Like the groundhog, Phil?” joke. But, in Rubin’s original s...

The character of Ralphie Parker has been in no less than six movies. Several were on PBS so they aren’t readily available. I found a couple online, may watch them in the next few days. There was also a sequel to A Christmas Story ... which has a 3.4 on IMDb . For the record: A Christmas Story (1983) currently has an 8.1, The Phantom of the Open Hearth (1976) has an 8.2, Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby is a Friend of Mine (1982) has a 6.9, The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters (1982) has an 8.0, The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (1985) has an 8.6, Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss (1988) has a 7.7, and It Runs in the Family / My Summer Story (1994) has a 5.7. The character was also apparently in American Playhouse’s Concealed Enemies: Part I: Suspicion , a “dramatized account of the actual events that led to the 1950 conviction of former U.S. State Department Alger Hiss of perjury before a federal grand jury...” There’s more to the description but I...

William Shakespeare never made use of the time loop. Which is unfortunate, really. And yet, I find my viewing of Much Ado About Nothing this evening bringing me back around to Groundhog Day nonetheless. Really, I suppose, at this point, everything leads me to Groundhog Day , or vice versa, or both. Groundhog Day binds me and undoes me, and I remain and I change and neither the same nor different will I be when this Project has come to its first end. Or its second end, if one does count the beginning of the line of its progress as one end, and the finish of it as its second. (Forget for now that that second end may be naught but a new beginning for a secondary phase of that which has been singular but now will expand and include much more.) I need to work on my Shakespearean writing. I think I end up just creating convoluted sentences to convey simple ideas. But, anyway, Dogberry in particular, if not the love story betwixt man and woman who come late to their attraction, brin...

A few notes and that is all for today. That New York Times article I mentioned a good while ago—reporter I talked to in Woodstock in February—that isn’t happening. I don’t know if I should share details, but the article is supposed to happen, different publication and probably not until winter (think Groundhog Day-ish). Another thing I currently am feeling I should keep details under wraps… someone who is in Groundhog Day sent me a message today in response to a message I wrote about the Day 365 Party next week. On a long shot, I asked if he would attend or send a message to those who do. The conversation is ongoing. More publically, the Overview with Rick Overton , AKA Ralph in Groundhog Day , now follows the Groundhog Day Project on Twitter . I feel the need to write about Ralph now. But not today. It has been a long day. Borrowed a projector for the Day 365 Party, by the way, and this evening I watched Groundhog Day projected onto the wall of the living room. While I could ...