the groundhog day project

A week with Groundhog Day . Seven days in a row of this one film. Who would have thunk that I could survive it? I mean, the repetitive nature of the film itself should have made repeated viewing unbearable. But no. Remarkably, it was quite readily repeatable, this film about repetition. And, watching it these last seven days has been rather comforting, like coming home to an old friend. But, I am not done with that friend. I’m not even done with the final revision of the script for that friend. But, I will be soon. I said that there were nine tabs left, so let us just be systematic about this... Beware, six days ago, I said this: “Now, let us just do this systematically. I will try not to mention every little tab or highlight.” Today, I will mention every little tab... of the ones that are left. #10 ... because I skipped this one on the previous page of my printout - the girl who comes out of Mary’s house, i.e. the piano student Phil gets thrown out into the cold out of selfishn...

So, today is Labor Day, and the movie I watched at the theater featured in Groundhog Day (aside from Groundhog Day two mornings in a row) was Labor Day starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, directed by Jason Reitman. It should have been better than it was, given its parts, but still, I scored it higher than a lot of people on IMDb . Oh, I’m also not watching Labor Day right now. Gotta watch Groundhog Day one more time to get through the final revision of the screenplay. Not too many pages to go. This should be ending today. Then, on to other movies tomorrow. Unless I get sidetracked. Or just want to make it an even seven days, to echo what I was doing with so many other movies last year. Or something really controversial comes up that demands a detailed analysis and an intricate study of Ramis’ themes, his writing tendencies, his Buddhism, or the complicated question of which of the flat tire ladies is which... ...which is actually going to be not that complicated, once the s...

Ned Ryerson is going about town on what should basically be a local holiday with his briefcase, as if off to work. I have never found confirmation that schools in Punxsutawney get the day off, or that workers might. Anyway, I figure Ned would carry that thing around whether he had to work that day or not, the way he holds it close when talking; it's like his comfort briefcase. But anyway, the scene in Ned's office--Ned working as Phil's body falls past--didn't make it as far as the final revision; presumably, once the tall building available was posing as the hotel, it just didn't work to also have Ned's office there. But, Ned is present for Phil's suicide. Phil does his swan dive off the Pennsylvanian Hotel tower and ON THE GROUND Somebody screams, and a crowd immediately forms around a spot on the sidewalk. Ned Ryerson pushes through to the front. NED Phil! Phil Connors! I thought that was him! Gee, I wonder if he had life insurance. (p. 90) It...

RITA There’s something so familiar about this. Do you ever have deja vu? PHIL All the time. (p. 71) A moment where, presumably, Bill Murray’s sense of humor overcame Harold Ramis’. Murray’s line is a classic— Didn’t you just ask me that? —whereas All the time is plain, boring, forgettable. Just after that, Larry has a nice moment in the final revision that he doesn’t have in the film. In the film, we see Phil steal the distributor cap from the newsvan, but we don’t get to hear that some horse’s ass bought every distributor cap in this town. That detail was in earlier revisions (as early as the Ramis’ second), but this revision adds one more detail; Larry tells Rita, I’m going down the street to try and steal one. Wish me luck. Page 72, Phil recites the French lyrics, but Rita doesn’t suggest he speaks French. Instead, he immediately follows up the French with: It’s Belgian, not French, of course, but I like it. The lines are, of course, French. The author: Belgian. I read tha...

Another scene that I don’t know if they actually filmed it is the party scene: INT. PHIL’S ROOM - NIGHT There is a very wild party in progress. The revelers include everyone from college kids to bikers to farmers. Bruno the German Shepherd [who Phil called out by name while driving around in his new car just a couple pages earlier] runs into the scene, barking at the activity. Then Bruno runs over to Phil who’s just sitting on the sofa staring at the fake fire. He’s wearing a really loud sportshirt, a number of gold neck chains and rings on every finger. On his lap is a whole chocolate cake which he is absently eating with his fingers. A very trashy looking girl named ANGIE in too tight-jeans and halter top is coming on to him, practically licking his ears. (Ramis, 1992, March 5, p. 64) She’s graduated a little bit. In earlier drafts, she was present at a BIKER BAR first, and she was a slut named ANGIE and she was accompanied by another overweight, not very pretty MADONNA WANNA-...

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...

First a quick recap of the first month of this less structured phase three of the Groundhog Day Project : The previous recap/ Groundhog Day viewing was Day 730 – i stayed here two years ago … two years of daily blogging down, however many more to go. Then, I watched Groundhog Day one more time on Day 731 – i kinda wanna get started to set the new pattern—the 2nd of every month is now Groundhog Day Day. (To be fair, this entry also included some Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation , but really it was about scene filmed but left out of Groundhog Day that led me back to… Well, we’ll get to that below. First, here’s what the last month involved: a lot of teachers and students, teenagers trying to figure themselves out, and the parasocial relationships we make with such characters and with real-world celebrities and filmmakers. Plus a few random movies, new and old. The movies involved: 732 – Dead Poets Society 733 – Dead Poets Society and The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet 7...

New thing: watch whatever movie I like, maybe just once maybe for days on end, and on the 2nd of every month (i.e. today), watch Groundhog Day again. (It's on now, even though I watched it last night. Phil forbid I'd watch it two days in a row.) I did watch another movie today-- Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation --but I have very little to say about that movie. Basically, if you want to see it, you should enjoy it. It's got the usual Mission: Impossible tropes: spy action, heist action, way-too-realistic face masks, nifty gadgets, Tom Cruise doing his own stunts, a scene or two of Tom Cruise running really fast, a good long sequence of Tom Cruise on a motorcycle and complicated post-Cold War intrigue (with no real link to the whole Russia-US thing; that's just a simple way to describe the nefarious NGO spy organizations like the decommissioned IMF and the Syndicate going at it like Antonio Prohias is behind it all). The Guardian calls it "rigorously formul...