‘His Teeth Went Right Through The Steel’: Bill Murray Recalls Being Bitten By The Groundhog On Groundhog Day Set, And That’s Not Even The Craziest Part Of The Story

DGIX

March 9, 2025

Over the last several decades, Bill Murray has put in some tremendous performances in iconic films like Ghostbusters, Stripes and Scrooged. Another famous flick the comedian is known for is the 1993 flick Groundhog Day (one of the 100 best movies of the ‘90s). During the film, Murray’s character shared the screen with the titular animal and, while that was funny to watch, it actually wasn’t so humorous for Murray himself. The actor says the marmot bit him multiple times, but that’s not even the wildest part of this BTS tale.

What Did Bill Murray Say About Being Bitten?

The now-74-year-old actor has shared plenty of excellent anecdotes about his work over the years, but the story he shared on the latest episode of Hot Ones might be the craziest. On this particular episode, host Sean Evans asked the comic about the claims that he was bitten by a groundhog while filming Harold Ramis’ 1993 fantasy comedy. The actor (as seen in the YouTube video) confirmed the chatter by showing Evans exactly where he was bitten and explained just what went down on set all those years ago:

I’m not flipping you off. That right there, that nodule there, that’s from the groundhog. … That’s real. He got me back to back, two days in a row. And the second day, I was cheating, or at least, I thought I was being smart. And I put some fisherman’s gloves, like steel gloves, underneath the gloves I was wearing. His teeth went right through the steel. Yeah, their teeth are about that long.

Just the thought of having one of my digits pierced by one of those long teeth is enough to make me wince. Bill Murray is indeed a talented actor (and is even one of many SNL alums with dramatic chops). However, I would imagine that even the best of us would be a little on edge after being bitten by an animal multiple times. So those two situations beg one question: how did the trainers factor into all of this?

There’s A Wild Twist To This Groundhog Day Story

Usually, any film that utilizes wild animals to have some kind of wrangler on set. When it comes to Groundhog Day (which was originally much darker), the production team actually looked to a pair of trainers to manage the animal that played the movie’s Punxsutawney Phil. Bill Murray (who was promoting his 2025 movie release Riff Raff on Hot Ones) recalled confronting the trainers after being bitten. It was during that exchange that the pair revealed an unexpected detail:

I got upset with the animal wrangler. I said, ‘Who in the hell trained this gopher?’ You know, self-righteous actor stuff. … And the two of them – they were like a guy and girl couple – they look at each other… And I say, ‘What?!’ ‘Well, he’s really rather wild.’ ‘Wild, what do you mean wild?’ ‘Well, we caught him just over that way, over by that field. We caught him there like two weeks ago.

Honestly, “Who in the hell trained this gopher?” sounds like it could be one of Bill Murray’s greatest quotes from his ‘80s and ‘90s movies. But that’s besides the point. What’s crazy to know is that the creature had only been recently caught — and around the area where filming was taking place, no less. I’d have thought that a more seasoned animal star would be utilized for the film, though that’s not to say that a not-so-wild groundhog wouldn’t have bitten the star, either. As the Rushmore actor said during his interview, “you get what you pay for.”

Bill Murray certainly has experienced his share of occupational hazards throughout his career. What I’m wondering now is what’s more annoying to him – being bitten multiple times by a wild groundhog or having to lug around a proton pack (for Ghostbusters). Regardless, neither sound fun, but it’s fair to say Murray’s efforts weren’t in vain. To see him rubbing shoulders with his furry friend, buy or rent Groundhog Day on one of several platforms.

Source link