Half-Assed Internet Research
Groundhog bites and rabies shots; the groundhog-lair idea; good Phil or bad Phil; stopped diner clocks; Woodstock, Illinois filming; script origins; 25 takes of the ending; religious readings
In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:41Read transcript
- Bill Murray was reportedly bitten by the groundhog two or three times and needed anti-rabies injections after a bad bite right after the groundhog-stealing scene.
- Bill Murray and groundhogs are called the greatest actor-animal connection, across two iconic groundhog movies; Turner and Hooch is offered as a rebuttal.
- Research is cited that, either in the movie shoot or the original script, the kidnapping went further, with him entering the groundhog's lair to blow it up, which was realized to be too close to the earlier Murray groundhog material.
- According to Ramis, Murray would ask only "good Phil or bad Phil"; the research also says the diner clocks are all stopped and the film was shot in Woodstock, Illinois, about 50 miles from Murray's hometown, with plaques for the puddle curb and Ned's corner.
- The hosts say the original script opened with Phil already mid-loop and that Ramis changed it, which is judged the right call.
- The hosts say writer Danny Rubin's big break came from reading Interview with the Vampire and thinking about living forever.
- Tobolowsky is quoted that it was a mediocre Bill Murray movie until shooting turned it into a classic.
- The hosts say they shot 25 takes of the closing wake-up and Ramis polled cast and crew, who voted to keep them in their clothes; one host would rather have implied sex, calling the movie chaste apart from the Nancy Taylor love scene.
- The woman dressed as a maid at the movies with the man-with-no-name costume is questioned as a possible call girl who is simply dropped.
- The hosts say Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Christians all found significance: mitzvahs before returning to earth, and purgatory with winning Andy McDowell's character's love as heaven.
- Such interpretation is rare for a popular comedy; the filmmakers likely did not expect religions to claim it, similar to The Big Lebowski.
- Ramis's earlier films were direct comedies, while Multiplicity reflects a man in crisis; the film may have tripped a wire for its makers.
- Multiplicity is called polarizing: a mid-90s roommate named Ricky loved it, and it resembles the mediocre Bill Murray movie Tobolowski described, starring Michael Keaton.