Editing Groundhog Day (film) (section)

===Concept and original draft===
[[File:Danny Rubin lectures (cropped).png|thumb|left|upright|Screenwriter [[Danny Rubin]]  in 2013]]
The original idea for ''Groundhog Day'' came to writer [[Danny Rubin]] in 1990. He had moved to Los Angeles to work as a screenwriter. While waiting in a theater for a film to start, he was reading [[Anne Rice]]'s book ''[[The Vampire Lestat]]'' (1985).<ref name="DOGRubin" /><ref name="telegraph interview" /><ref name="bigthink rubin" /> Rubin began musing about vampiric immortality and what one would do with their time if it was limitless. He reasoned that vampires were like normal people who did not need to adhere to ordinary rules or moral boundaries.<ref name="telegraph interview" /><ref name="bigthink rubin" /> He questioned if and when immortality would become boring or pointless, and how a person would change over time, especially if they were incapable of substantial change.<ref name="telegraph interview" /> He singled out men he deemed to be in [[arrested development]], who could not outlive their adolescence.<ref name="telegraph interview" /><ref name="bigthink rubin" />

Having recently sold his first script for what would become the thriller film ''[[Hear No Evil (1993 film)|Hear No Evil]]'' (1993), his agent prompted him to develop a "calling-card" script that he could use to gain meetings with producers. Rubin began work on his idea of a man changing over eternal life, but quickly realized that the idea was impractical because of the expense of depicting historical and future events. At this point, Rubin recalled a brief story concept he had written two years earlier that followed a man who woke every morning to find it was the same day repeating. Rubin married the two ideas to create the outline for ''Groundhog Day''. By portraying eternity as a repeating cycle instead of a straight line through history, he eliminated the production cost of constantly changing settings.<ref name="telegraph interview" /> He believed that the repetition also offered him more dramatic and comedic possibilities.<ref name="bigthink rubin" />

Rubin opened a calendar and picked the next nearest holiday, February{{nbsp}}2, Groundhog Day. He saw it as a date with story potential because it was a recognized holiday without much widespread attention. Rubin believed that people were vaguely aware of the holiday, on which a groundhog predicts the coming of spring. Even so, he believed few people outside Pennsylvania were aware that the actual festival takes place in the small town of Punxsutawney, something he became aware of through a writing job for a local phone company.<ref name="telegraph interview" /> Setting the story in Punxsutawney provided a small area in which to trap Phil Connors, while reporting on the event gave the character a reason to visit. Rubin took the main character's name from Punxsutawney Phil.<ref name="telegraph interview" /> He hoped the film could become a perennial holiday favorite, like ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'' (1946) and ''[[A Charlie Brown Christmas]]'' (1965).<ref name="VultureRubin" /><ref name="Varietyat25" />{{sfn|Gilbey|2004|p=9}}

Rubin spent eight weeks working on the story: seven making notes to define the rules and characters, and one writing the script.<ref name="telegraph interview" /><ref name="bigthink rubin" /> He struggled to establish a cause for the time loop, considering technological, magical, and celestial origins. He considered these methods interchangeable and felt the cause was unimportant and could detract from the story elements he wanted to focus on. Rubin said that the lack of explanation made Phil's situation more relatable, as "none of us knows exactly how we got stuck here either."<ref name="telegraph interview" /> He chose to begin the story {{lang|la|[[in medias res]]}}, with Phil already caught in the time loop.<ref name="telegraph interview" /> The first scene included Phil waking to "I Got You Babe," predicting the radio host banter and the actions of the hotel patrons, and attacking a pedestrian outside. Rubin thought this would intrigue an audience trying to understand how and why he is doing these things.<ref name="bigthink rubin" /> He chose "I Got You Babe" because it used a lot of repeating lines and was about love, which he felt were thematically resonant aspects.{{sfn|Gilbey|2004|p=34}} He likened his original script to the 1949 British [[black comedy]] film ''[[Kind Hearts and Coronets]]'', particularly the flippant way in which Phil's multiple suicides are shown.<ref name="telegraph interview" />

Rubin did not initially write the film as a broad comedy, considering it more whimsical. He found that the funnier elements were the easiest to think of; one of the earliest scenes he wrote was about Phil using his ever-increasing knowledge to seduce women.<ref name="bigthink rubin" /> Loops were also dedicated to Phil seeing how far he could get outside of Punxsutawney; inevitably, he was always returned to the town.{{sfn|Gilbey|2004|p=65}} Even so, the script focused much more on Phil's loneliness. He breaks the loop only after realizing that there are other lonely people and that he can do good deeds to make them happier. Scenes in the finished film happened much earlier in Rubin's script, such as Phil driving over a cliff. The passage of time was also more distinct; Phil would track it by reading one page of a book per day, reaching his low point when he realizes he has run out of books. The original ending also featured a twist: Phil breaks his loop and then confesses his love to Rita. The perspective then becomes Rita's; she rejects Phil's advance because she is not ready for love and gets trapped in a loop of her own.<ref name="DOGRubin" />