10 Deleted Movie Scenes That Explain Confusing Moments

The Confusing Moment

As wonderful a movie as Groundhog Day is, it never explains the nature of Phil Connors (Bill Murray) being trapped in a time loop.

Audiences have naturally assumed it's somehow related to karma and how Phil chooses to interact with the world, but there's absolutely nothing in the film which concretely confirms the force behind the loop.

The Deleted Scene

This scene was deleted in the truest sense of the word, as it wasn't ever actually filmed and was scrubbed from the screenplay during the drafting stage.

Producers urged co-writer Danny Rubin to include an explanation for the time loop in the second draft of his script, and so he conjured up a vengeful ex-girlfriend of Phil's, Stephanie, who Phil dumps right at the start of the movie.

In return, she literally opens up a magic book called "101 Curses, Spells, and Enchantments You Can Do At Home" and places a curse on Phil for how he's treated her, causing him to become trapped in the loop.

Ultimately the second draft is said to be extremely close to the third and final one, though the producers ultimately decided that the reasoning was better left ambiguous.

And so while this explanation isn't strictly canon, it's definitely the closest we're ever going to get to it. Honestly, it fits well enough.