What Was the Original Twist of the 'Groundhog Day' Ending?

To me, every day of this pandemic has felt likeGroundhog Day. I get up, I write some articles, I work on my script, I wander my neighborhood, and I go to bed doing the same thing again and again and again. 

Still, it's hard to think about a movie as culturally significant as Groundhog Day. It created a whole genre of comedy where people relive the same day over and over. While at the end of the movie Bill Murray has learned to be a good person, the main thing I've learned about the movie during my repetitive quarantine is that the original ending was very different. 

The movie was written by Danny Rubin with work also done by the film's director, Harold Ramis. In the original spec, we just have a guy who keeps waking up on February 2nd, without and introduction until the first time it happened. 

Ramis thought showing the day Phil realizes he's stuck in a day would really make the movie more relatable for us. We can see who Phil was before and understand the way he arcs.

That wasn't the only change he made. 

There was also a voiceover from Phil explaining his predicament and another big twist ending you never saw coming... 

If you don't have time to watch that interview, all you need to know is that Rubin described this initial ending at a screening of the film this way...

"At the very end, he wakes up with Rita just like this. And then a second later, Rita is out of there. She can’t wait to leave. And it turns out that she’s been reliving February 3 over and over again. But the thing is it switches over to her story, at the very end as we’re realizing she’s been repeating that day over and over again, there’s a Rita voiceover. So the movie actually switches point of view from his voiceover to hers."

Point of view change! 

While I think Groundhog Day made the right changes, this ending sounds like a really fun way to mirror the original opening and voiceover. Also, it's interesting to note the similarities to Palm Springs, which uses a similar dynamic as the driving for the movie. 

Obviously in sequel-driven Hollywood, the Rubin ending makes much more sense and is favorable today. 

But I am glad we got the version we know today. 

What do you think? 

Let us know in the comments.