When Bill Murray appeared on Hot Ones in 2025 to promote his latest movie, Riff Raff, host Sean Evans asked him if it was true that he’d actually been bitten by the groundhog he worked with in the 1993 film Groundhog Day. Murray proceeded to show the host a scar on his middle finger that he evidently received from his unruly co-star. “I’m not flipping you off,” he assured Evans, “but right there, that…nodule there, that’s from the groundhog.”
Murray explained that after the first biting incident, he showed up with some steel fisherman’s gloves, thinking that they would help prevent him from sustaining further injuries. Once again, the groundhog chomped down, right through the steel.
Directing his rage toward the animal wranglers on set, Murray asked, “Who in the hell trained this gopher?” The two of them looked at each other and nervously informed Murray that he’d been working with a wild animal for the past two days. “Wild? What do you mean he’s wild?” he snapped back at them. As it turns out, they’d only caught the creature a couple of weeks prior to shooting and hadn’t had much time to prepare him for his big screen debut.
A 1993 interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer offers some insight as to why they didn’t end up using a trained groundhog instead. According to Murray, the filmmakers hoped to use the real Punxsutawney Phil for the movie, but because they decided not to shoot in Punxsutawney, he wasn’t allowed to participate. “Phil was fabulous,” Murray said after meeting the groundhog in preparation for the role. “He’s treated like royalty and is very well-behaved. A true professional,” he added.
Another thing the Inquirer piece makes clear is that the groundhog used for the movie, which was nicknamed Scooter, didn’t just bite Murray twice, but three times. “Let it suffice to say I will never, ever make another major motion picture with him again. And I mean that,” Murray joked.
As for the rumor that Murray had to get a rabies shot as a result of the bites, he had the following to say to The Morning Call in 1993: “I went to the doc and said, ‘Hey, I got bit by a groundhog, should I get a rabies shot?’ He said, ‘Well, no.’ ‘You mean I’m not going to get it?’ He said, ‘Well, no. See, we don’t know if groundhogs give rabies.’ And I’m like, ‘Because you don’t know, you can’t give me the shot?’ He said, ‘That’s right.’ ‘And what if I get it, then what?’ He said, ‘Then we’ll know. Then we’ll know, then, won’t we?’”
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