What's not to love about Bill Murray as an ill-fated weatherman who is forced to relive the same day over and over in Groundhog Day? Comedy gold. If you've ever wondered the real reasons why Murray's sourpuss meteorologist was chosen to repeat the same sadistic time loop, voiceover artist Eddie Deezen has your answer. He ponders why Murray's Phil deserved such a hefty punishment and points to the second draft of the script for an explanation.
Apparently it has to do with a curse that Phil's ex-girlfriend put on him. "Literally, she opens a book of magic spells and does a little ritual that causes him to get stuck in time…. There is no 'higher purpose' given, just an angry, embittered ex-girlfriend with a little book," Deezen says. The beginning of the script introduces the jilted lover set to perform a magic spell using Phil’s business cards and broken watch (conveniently set at 5:59).
His "jail sentence" would have been 10,000 years, had Rita not kissed Phil at the end of the movie and broken the spell. "Even in the final filmed version, you can hear a tinkly magic sound as Phil and Rita lock lips," Deezen reminds us.
So just how much of those 10,000 years did Phil spend trapped in a loop? According to WhatCulture, Phil only spent 33 years and 350 days repeating the same day over and over again, or 12,395 times to be exact.
P.S. In case you were wondering, Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow earlier today, and so we get an early spring!
Read the rest of Deezen's discussion at Neatorama.
