Random Movie Trivia - Groundhog Day

Here is the next edition in our weekly Random Movie Trivia post.  Enjoy:

Groundhog Day

• It was not actually filmed in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania but in Woodstock, Illinois (which is 45 minutes from Bill Murray's hometown).  The town of Woodstock even placed two honorary plaques in the town to commemorate the filming.  One is on the curb where Murray's character kept stepping in the big icy puddle and one is on the building where Murray kept getting confronted by Ned Ryerson, they even named that "Ned's Corner".
• The interiors of Bill's room at the bed and breakfast were filmed in an empty warehouse.
• Early drafts of the script explain why Murray's character gets stuck in the infinite loop, he was cursed by a jilted lover who wanted to teach him a lesson.
• In another early draft of the script, the movie was going to start out with Phil Conners already stuck on Groundhog Day and the audience wouldn't know why Phil seemed to know what was about to happen, but at the last second they changed it.
• One last early draft said that Phil wakes up on February 3rd (the day after Groundhog Day) to find that Rita (Andie MacDowell) is now trapped in a loop of her own.
• Bill Murray was bitten twice by the groundhog during filming and had to get a rabies shots because the bites were so severe.
• During a couple of scenes where Murray is learning to play piano, it is actually him playing.
• Director Harold Ramis originally wanted Tom Hanks for the lead role, but decided against it because he thought Hanks was "too nice".  Others considered for the role were Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and John Travolta.
• Originally, Phil was supposed to kill the groundhog in his lair, but they decided against it because it seemed too much like what Murray did in Caddyshack.
• The writer of the movie said he got inspiration after reading Interview with a Vampire and wondered what it would be like to live forever.
• While the script says that Phil is stuck in time for ten years, you only see 38 full or partial days of his adventures.
• Even though the script says that Phil is stuck for about ten years on Groundhog Day, some crazy people on the internet say that it must have been much longer because it takes at least three decades to master ice sculpting and the piano.
• Another thing people like to point out is that on February 2nd, the sun does not rise until 7:45 and that it should still be dark out when Phil's alarm goes off at 6:00.
• This was Michael Shannon's film debut.  If you don't know who that is, he will be playing General Zod in this summer's Man of Steel.  He played the groom of the couple getting married and Phil plays the piano at their wedding reception at the end of the movie. 

"Which one is the real groundhog?  Bill Murray is such a good actor."