What Happened on the Set of GROUNDHOG DAY to Make Longtime Friends Harold Ramis and Bill Murray Have a Falling Out
We have long heard rumors about the difficult nature Bill Murray has sometimes had on sets of his films. One film that often gets pointed to as a movie he was particularly obnoxious on is What About Bob?, but this actually makes good sense seeing as how the character Bob was truly unbearable in the film. If he was method acting, he was doing a good job. But unfortunately, this wasn’t his only on-set complaint, and one of them cost him a friendship.
Murray and his Ghostbusters co-star Harold Ramis came up together, first starting at the famed Second City improv comedy troupe in Chicago in 1970. The pair worked on The National Lampoon Radio Hour and The National Lampoon Show, before Murray went on to become a cast member on SNL and Ramis became head writer at Second City's own TV show SCTV.
The actors reunited for a number of ‘80s comedies including Meatballs, Caddyshack, and Stripes, before making the first and second Ghostbusters films, launching them into another level of fame.
The pair went on to sign on to the comedy Groundhog Day, with Ramis directing from a script he co-wrote, and Murray starring in the film. But this was the one that drove a wedge between them that lasted decades.
Danny Rubin co-wrote the script for the film with Ramis, and he said the original script wasn’t as direct as the story we ended up seeing and went at a slower pace. He said that Murray asked to collaborate with him on re-writes, and he and producer Trevor Albert explained in the book Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick De Semlyen that Murray’s changes messed with the story so much, they were unsure where to go from there, and Murray wouldn’t even return Ramis’ calls about the ordeal. Once that got ironed out, the production was another story entirely.
Bill Murray arrived on location in Woodstock, Illinois, which was doubling for Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and Ramis was finally able to meet with his friend, but it was far from a friendly exchange. While Ramis was hoping for Groundhog Day to be funny, warm and romantic, Murray felt like it needed to be somewhat chilly with a focus on existential crisis. Their differing viewpoints would create a confrontational relationship throughout the entire shoot.
During the shoot, the arguments between Ramis and Murray were so bad that Ramis told Murray to get an assistant who could relay messages between them. Murray then hired a young deaf woman, which clearly didn't fix the issue. Ramis told Entertainment Weekly:
"He hired a personal assistant who was profoundly deaf, did not have oral speech, spoke only American sign language, which Bill did not speak, nor did anyone else in the production. But Bill said, 'Don't worry, I'm going to learn sign language.' And I think it was so inconvenient that in a couple weeks, he gave that up."
Rubin was only around for the first week of filming, so he didn't witness all the tension and disagreements, but he recalled, "It wasn't really between Harold and Bill — it was Bill. There was something going on with him. Because Harold seemed as bewildered by the whole thing as I was."
Some attributed Murray’s personal struggles, the divorce from his first wife, as part of his troubles. Some say he resented his professional accolades being tied to Ramis. But whatever the issue, the two didn’t speak to one another for 21 years.
In 2010, Ramis was diagnosed with autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. This gave him trouble with walking and speaking for the remaining years of his life until his passing in February 2014. Murray ended up paying an unexpected visit to Ramis' home in the North Shore of Chicago shortly before his death. Accompanied by a police escort and a box of doughnuts, Murray arrived early in the morning and the two spent a couple hours making amends and laughing like old friends again.
After Ramis passed away in 2014, Murray made one last gesture of reconciliation for his friend. While presenting the award for Best Cinematography at the 2014 Academy Awards, after reading all of the nominees, Murray added, "Oh, we forgot one: Harold Ramis for Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, and Groundhog Day."
It’s a bummer these friends missed out on all those years they could have stayed collaborators and friends, but it’s great they were able to reconcile before it was too late.
source: /Film