7 Facts About the Movie 'Groundhog Day' You Didn’t Know

The studio offered the role to Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton, who both turned it down, and Chevy Chase, John Travolta and Steve Martin were also in the running, though director Harold Ramis thought they were too nice to pull off the laughably irreverent character.

The town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania is crucial to the film, not only as the home of one prescient rodent but also as the perfect time jail for Phil Connors. But the actual town didn’t have a city center picturesque enough to act as a backdrop for the story, so the crew shot in Woodstock, Illinois, instead.

Among the DVD extras for the movie there’s an interview with director Harold Ramis in which the filmmaker reveals his estimate for the number of times the fictional Phil repeated his holiday. While only 38 days are shown in the film, Ramis estimated the character would repeat the day for about 10 years in order to acquire all the skills he shows off by the end.

While the Punxsutawney Phil onscreen appeared pretty docile, the groundhog who played him was anything but. The acting rodent, named Scooter, bit the star three times over the course of filming, and Murray claimed the animal hated him all along.

Unlike the plot in the movie, the film crew couldn’t pause time to film everything in February. Shooting took place from March through June, so by the time the shoot wrapped, the temperature routinely hit 80 degrees in Illinois. The crew brought in tons of fake snow to keep up the wintery scene, but actors also had to fake the cold by wearing thick coats in the middle of summer.

When Ramis would try to give the actor notes on his performance, Murray would simply ask him, “Just tell me — good Phil or bad Phil?” and model his performance on the answer.

Brian Doyle-Murray, who portrayed the mayor of Punxsutawney, bears a certain resemblance to the famous star.