Groundhog Day Was A Nightmare For Bill Murray, Director Allegedly Grabbed Him By The Collar And Threw Him Against The Wall

Actors like Bill Murray are only human and when it comes to creative collaborations, there are bound to be issues and feuds with their directors. While there are certain actors and directors who continue to maintain long-time friendships, there are some who had their long-time relationships broken due to their creative differences. And so had happened on the set of Groundhog Day when Murray had a serious strife with his director friend.

Bill Murray and Harold Ramis were good friends, collaborating on multiple acclaimed movies until their infamous clash on the set of their movie Groundhog Day. The clash inevitably broke up their relationship, leading to 20 years of no contact until they reconnected.

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Bill Murray And Harold Ramis’s Feud On Set Of Groundhog Day

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Bill Murray and Harold Ramis first met way back in the 1970s when they were just two young comedians on the fateful road to eventual success. their part collided again when they made Meatballs in the later 1970s, and since then they have been really unstoppable. However, they soon met again on the set of the classic Groundhog Day, which led to the demise of their successful collaboration.

Murray is infamous for being eccentric and was way too interested in the movie’s script, even going ahead to have the whole script rewritten. And thereafter trouble started on the set. Throughout the whole thing, Ramis tried to stay diplomatic and even asked the actor to hire a personal assistant. However, Murray went ahead and hired a deaf assistant who could only communicate in American Sign Language (via Entertainment Weekly).

Things got so worse that Ramis, too exhausted and frustrated, grabbed his lead star’s collar and threw him against a wall. Their creative difference led them to never speak again for the next 20 years.

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How Bill Murray And Harold Ramis Reconciled

While Bill Murray continues to engage and entertain viewers, Harold Ramis passed away in 2014. He was diagnosed with autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis which rendered him unable to talk or walk in the latter years of his life.

But just before his death, Murray showed up unannounced at 7 a.m. with a box full of doughnuts. While Ramis, at that point, had lost much of his ability to talk, his longtime friend stayed a long time to hang around as the two made amends (via Vulture).

The Ghostbuster star also mentioned his friend when presenting the Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography in 2014. He even finally saw the Broadway adaptation of Groundhog Day in 2017 and was found sobbing as he watched (via Slashfilm).

Groundhog Day can be streamed on Netflix.

Source: Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, and Slashfilm