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10 Movies That Had Completely Different First Drafts

Making movies is hard work. Though the best films tend to make the process look easy, while lesser ones look like no effort was put in at all, the truth is usually not quite so clear cut. The folks behind an awful movie might have started with a strong idea and good intentions but somehow lost sight of what worked and what didn't. Those who bring us awesome movies, on the other hand, might have begun with a stinker and then polished it until it shined.

9) Groundhog Day

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This February 3rd, you may well have rewatched Groundhog Day for the 100th time (I know I did). With one of Bill Murray’s finest performances and a spot-on script that weaves laugh-out-loud comedy, tragedy and romance together, it’s a bonafide classic and has soaked into popular culture quite a bit ever since.

Earlier drafts of the movie were significantly different, however. For instance, Danny Rubin’s initial draft began in media res with Murray’s character Phil Connors already stuck in the time loop in Punxsutawney. Instead of the happy ending of the eventual movie, it would have finished with Phil at his wit’s end and killing himself… only to wake up again in the loop. The final sting would have been Rita waking up too and revealing that she was stuck in her own time loop.

In the movie’s second draft, producers asked Rubin to add in an explanation for why Phil gets stuck in the time loop. To appease them, Rubin wrote in a subplot about an ex-girlfriend of Phil’s turning out to be a witch and cursing him. No one liked the idea, though, and the explanation was once again removed.