“Groundhog Day,” starring…Tom Hanks??
Last night at a Q-and-A at the AMC River East in Chicago, Harold Ramis revealed that Tom Hanks was his original choice to star in “Groundhog Day.” Hanks later told Ramis it worked much better with Bill Murray as the lead, because “Audiences would have been sitting there waiting for me to become nice, because I always play nice. But Bill’s such a miserable S.O.B. on and off screen, you didn’t know what was going to happen.”
June 24th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Pretty savvy, actually.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I liked Hanks more when he was just getting into film. Once he started taking himself seriously as an actor I exited at the next station. He looks like someone acting. He does not become a character. He owes a great deal to the grace of friendship. He was handed a lot of golden opportunities and audiences and industry people like him. His acting ability has not been the draw.
Groundhog Day was great with Bill Murray.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Hi Richard, what was the Q&A about or following? Year One?
June 25th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Bill Murray is an SOB off screen? Really? I know he was arrested for driving and drinking and his wife divorced him partially for physical abuse.
…other than that, though, he doesn’t seem like a bad guy.
June 26th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
That is funny that you wrote about this, I had actually just heard Ramis say that a month or two ago and related the story last week while driving through Woodstock. It worked so well with Bill !
June 30th, 2009 at 9:32 am
i can totally see that…tom hanks can’t play a goofy aloof either
as naturally as bill.
when i was working for the city helping out during that time.
someone said the scene where he jumps off the bell tower took
so long to shoot because he’s afraid of heights.
March 24th, 2010 at 12:07 am
Just read an article at the frumforum that The Pacific, Tom Hank’s newest undertaking, will be a delight to amateur historians. Though, history based docu-dramas have their place, I believe they may also be deceptive, even if unintentionally. For instance, after watching the Ten Commandments, Moses, in my mind’s eye, now looks like Heston and even has some of his mannerisms. Is not that something of a distortion of historical fact? We should remember the fact that the purpose of these movies is entertainment and really not education.