the groundhog day project

A few things: I am considering something permanent to celebrate a year of Groundhog Day . A tattoo. This would be my second. I have one small one already. I finally got these videos in a format I could use. When my kids were out of town a month ago, my son sent me these. The first is my daughter Saer (who recently wrote most of an entry for this blog) reciting a certain bit of poetry from the film… The second is my son Kieran and my daughters Saer and Hayley paraphrasing a bit of god day … My screening of Groundhog Day for today is nearly done—he’s hugging Ned right now. I spent a good portion of the day working on an unrelated short film project and a card game—making Groundhog Day The Board Game and buying the blank cards I used for it (and a good many extra because they came in a box of 500), not to mention my obsession this summer with tabletop games, got me in the mood for making games. I won’t say much because a) it’s nothing to do with Groundhog Day and b) I don’t w...

I used to try to stay up all night sometimes. I thought if I could stay conscious I could figure out what was going on, or at least hang onto something from the day before. But I gave up on that a long time ago. (Ramis, 1992, January 30, p. 98) Oh, and let's subtitles this, there's no way these notes on Ramis' third revision of the screenplay for Groundhog Day ... is ever going to end, as long as I nitpick the details . (But, what the hell? Details be damned.) Phil has managed to get good at not only pool and bowling , but also juggling and hacky sack, and he can ride a unicycle (p. 99). There's an extra detail to the moment at the end of "god day" in which Rita inspires Phil. Phil concedes that he isn't a jerk and adds, "It really doesn't make a lot of difference. I've killed myself so many times, I don't even exist anymore. I'm just completely empty." "Or completely clean," Rita replies. "If you're g...

Subtitle: notes on a draft, because these things don’t write themselves, part three. Scene 100, Page 75 - this deleted scene (which has very little content; I would rather see something like the room-destruction scene really, since it was apparently actually filmed): Kind of makes Phil seem like a stalker. I like the idea of Scene 102, in which Phil sees Nancy again and speaks to her. It’s like the brief bit in the costumed scene outside the movie theater in which he acknowledges her in the movie, but with a little more dialogue to it. “Hi,” Nancy,” Phil says. “Hi,” Nancy replies. “Do I know you?” The description here is interesting: “Phil can’t manage enough enthusiasm to pursue her yet again.” “No,” Phil says then, “I guess not. I thought you were someone else.” And, he keeps on moving to where Rita and Larry are waiting. In the banquet sequence at the end of the movie, we get to see Nancy again, and she even bids on Phil, but there’s no acknowledgement by Phil of there having...

Subtitle: Notes on Harold Ramis' third revision for Groundhog Day , part two: Groundhoggier . While this draft does give some more examples of Phil being an ass, he also seems a little more reasonable in some instances. Case in point: Rita asks, "What do you want me to do?" In the film version, Phil says "I don’t know! You’re a producer, come up with something." In this draft: "The truth? I'd like you to spend the next 24 hours with me and don't leave my side for a second." It reads at first like he is genuinely trying to get Rita's help, asking for it rather than demanding it. But, here is where, in this draft, Rita says, "You know, Phil, you can charm all the little P.A.'s at the station, all the secretaries, and even some of the weekend anchors, but not me--not in a thousand years" (p. 41). Of course, then that thousand year bit at the end reads like deliberate setup for the unspoken joke to come--Phil will spend a thous...

Subtitle: notes on yet another draft of the screenplay for Groundhog Day , part one. Phil in front of the green screen doesn't include any dialogue. The WPBH scene would be scripted and filmed later of course. An additional scene (the opening scene at the news station in Pittsburgh) was shot after the movie wrapped, written by Harold. (Rubin, 2012, p. 121) Gil Hawley--Phil's boss--is still in this draft, and he gets some of the lines that later to go Rita and Larry. He gets Larry's bit about San Juan Capistrano and Rita's "cute story" bit, for example. Phil, even though this draft and the previous one were done after Bill Murray got involved, is still described as being in his mid-thirties. And, he's got a little more of an attitude about doing the groundhog coverage again. In response to Hawley telling him he "covered the swallows returning to Capistrano for ten years in a row," Phil tells him, "You should've killed the guy who ma...

I cannot decide if it’s weird that the first thing I wanted to check in the third revision of the Groundhog Day screenplay was O’Reilly’s name—the paramedic Bud refers to him as ol’ Reilly (recall, there was a weird typo in the second revision that made the name semi-unreadable). And, in the deleted scene, the paramedic calls him ol’ Jedson . See: I haven’t read the third revision yet. I may do so tomorrow. And, I figure that it will take me at least three entries to pick it apart. As it was with Rubin’s original: Day 49 – it’s groundhog time Day 50 – see, i knew you were gonna say that Day 51 – i really feel weird And, Ramis’ second revision: Day 36 – i’ve already done it… twice Day 37 – watch out for that first step Day 38 – sounds like a lot of fun Or the three days I spent breaking down the structure of the “screenplay” of the final film: Day 114 – catch you tomorrow Day 115 – what if there is no tomorrow? Day 116 – there wasn’t one today For now, having only g...