Over the past a number of many years, Invoice Murray has put in some large performances in iconic movies like Ghostbusters, Stripes and Scrooged. One other well-known flick the comic is thought for is the 1993 flick Groundhog Day (one of many 100 finest films of the ‘90s). Through the movie, Murray’s character shared the display screen with the titular animal and, whereas that was humorous to observe, it really wasn’t so humorous for Murray himself. The actor says the marmot bit him a number of instances, however that’s not even the wildest a part of this BTS story.
What Did Invoice Murray Say About Being Bitten?
The now-74-year-old actor has shared loads of wonderful anecdotes about his work through the years, however the story he shared on the most recent episode of Scorching Ones is likely to be the craziest. On this explicit episode, host Sean Evans requested the comedian concerning the claims that he was bitten by a groundhog whereas filming Harold Ramis’ 1993 fantasy comedy. The actor (as seen within the YouTube video) confirmed the chatter by exhibiting Evans precisely the place he was bitten and defined simply what went down on set all these years in the past:
I’m not flipping you off. That proper there, that nodule there, that’s from the groundhog. … That’s actual. He acquired me again to again, two days in a row. And the second day, I used to be dishonest, or at the least, I believed I used to be being good. And I put some fisherman’s gloves, like metal gloves, beneath the gloves I used to be carrying. His tooth went proper by way of the metal. Yeah, their tooth are about that lengthy.
Simply the considered having one in all my digits pierced by a type of lengthy tooth is sufficient to make me wince. Invoice Murray is certainly a proficient actor (and is even one in all many SNL alums with dramatic chops). Nevertheless, I’d think about that even the most effective of us can be somewhat on edge after being bitten by an animal a number of instances. So these two conditions beg one query: how did the trainers issue into all of this?
There’s A Wild Twist To This Groundhog Day Story
Normally, any movie that makes use of wild animals to have some sort of wrangler on set. On the subject of Groundhog Day (which was initially a lot darker), the manufacturing crew really appeared to a pair of trainers to handle the animal that performed the film’s Punxsutawney Phil. Invoice Murray (who was selling his 2025 film launch Riff Raff on Scorching Ones) recalled confronting the trainers after being bitten. It was throughout that change that the pair revealed an surprising element:
I acquired upset with the animal wrangler. I mentioned, ‘Who within the hell educated this gopher?’ You understand, self-righteous actor stuff. … And the 2 of them – they had been like a man and woman couple – they take a look at one another… And I say, ‘What?!’ ‘Nicely, he’s actually reasonably wild.’ ‘Wild, what do you imply wild?’ ‘Nicely, we caught him simply over that manner, over by that area. We caught him there like two weeks in the past.
Actually, “Who within the hell educated this gopher?” sounds prefer it might be one in all Invoice Murray’s biggest quotes from his ‘80s and ‘90s films. However that’s moreover the purpose. What’s loopy to know is that the creature had solely been not too long ago caught — and across the space the place filming was going down, no much less. I’d have thought {that a} extra seasoned animal star can be utilized for the movie, although that’s to not say {that a} not-so-wild groundhog wouldn’t have bitten the star, both. Because the Rushmore actor mentioned throughout his interview, “you get what you pay for.”
Invoice Murray definitely has skilled his share of occupational hazards all through his profession. What I’m questioning now could be what’s extra annoying to him – being bitten a number of instances by a wild groundhog or having to lug round a proton pack (for Ghostbusters). Regardless, neither sound enjoyable, but it surely’s truthful to say Murray’s efforts weren’t in useless. To see him rubbing shoulders along with his furry good friend, purchase or lease Groundhog Day on one in all a number of platforms.