TIL Bill Murray and Harold Ramis clashed during the filming of Groundhog Day. Murray wanted the movie to be more contemplative while Ramis saw it as more of a comedy. After filming was completed the two didn't speak to each other for 21 years, only reconciling shortly before Ramis' death in 2014

There's a book called Guru about a comedian/director/lunatic named Del Close, one of the people who shaped Chicago's comedy scene. Basically anyone who went through Second City for several decades was directed by or taught by or costarred with Del, including Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, John Candy, Adam McKay, John Belushi, Gilda Radner... just a ridiculous list of names. He later co-founded the iO theater, which itself subtly re-shaped the American comedy scene despite not being particularly famous outside the Chicagoland region. Upright Citizens Brigade grew out of iO in the 1990s, and both The Daily Show and Colbert Report were chock full of iO alumni.

Del was also famously impossible to work with. He was super misogynistic, temperamental, and batshit crazy, but his students mostly loved him. He would often show up to classes and rehearsals high as a kite, and explain that instead of the usual lesson plan today's class would be about exploring the idea of toilets as modern Aztec temples where we sacrificed our feces instead of offering blood. He also frequently and adamantly asserted Animaniacs was the pinnacle of comedy and television writing, and there was no point making any other art.

In 1999 he died from emphysema. The guy kicked heroin, cocaine, booze, every prescription and illicit drug available, and several chemicals not meant for human contact. But he could never quit cigarettes. A few years after he died, the owner of the iO theater banned smoking in the building long before the city did because she wanted to keep her comedians alive.

He also willed his skull to the Goodman theater to be used in any productions of Hamlet, but in a famously convoluted scandal involving Chicago regulations and an anonymous medical cadaver, an unknown head took Del's place.

Anyway, jump ahead to the mid-2000s. Jeff Griggs, a director and comedian in Chicago, writes Guru, a memoir about his weekly job of driving Del around town running errands in exchange for free classes. Second City loves the book, and Sony Pictures (their parent company) options the movie rights. Griggs starts working on the screenplay, and a few drafts in gets some news... Harold Ramis is attached to direct.

Over the following months he meets Ramis, and they both share their stories about working with Del and discuss how certain segments could work on screen. Griggs goes over to Ramis' house, and Ramis fields phone calls from actors who want to play Del, including Mike Myers and Robin Williams. Topher Grace is rumored to be interested in playing Griggs. Shooting dates are being set.

But there's a catch... Bill Murray had apparently made a deal years earlier that if Second City did a Del movie, he would get first right of refusal to play Del. Murray was with Del in the hospital when he died in 1999, and considered Del the most influential person on his career. I have no idea if Murray's agreement with Second City was an actual contract, a handshake deal, or just a rumor, but it was apparently enough to delay filming plans. Ramis was adamant about directing, and Murray wouldn't budge on casting. They hit an impasse, since neither would work with the other again, even though they'd personally reconciled.

After a few more months, the movie was shelved because Ramis had another project lined up. Griggs went back to teaching at iO and Second City, Murray did a Garfield sequel, and Ramis sadly passed away too soon.

Happily, it's rumored the movie is once again in pre-production with John Goodman rumored to be locked in for Del, one of the best biopic casting choices ever made if true.

If you see a movie in the next couple of years about Del, just remember what could have been... a Murray/Ramis collaboration, if only they hadn't done Groundhog Day first.

/r/todayilearned Thread Link - uproxx.com