Groundhog Day was one of the best movies of the 1990s. We saw Bill Murray’s Phil Connors trying to woo Andie MacDowell’s Rita Hanson as he repeated the same day over and over. While the two co-stars famously didn’t get along with each other on set, MacDowell’s daughter, Margaret Qualley, tried to set the duo up decades later.
Qualley's followed in her mother's acting footsteps and received praise and nominations for her works in Fosse/Verdon, Maid, and recently got a Cannes standing ovation for her new 2025 movie release, Honey Don’t! But one perk of having a famous parent is when you meet their famous co-stars. Qualley spoke on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon about meeting Bill Murray backstage and how his Piggy Wiggly shirt inspired her to set him up with her mother:
I find out he’s living in Charleston. My mom’s living in Charleston.
Ooh, look at that! Two former co-stars are living in the same area. What a coincidence. With Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell being residents in the same town, this would be a good chance to catch up, right? Maybe set up a little reunion opportunity for the cast of one of the best rom-coms of all time.
While it’s been widely reported that the Scrooged actor and his Groundhog Day director, Harold Ramis, didn’t get along on-set, he apparently wasn’t the only one. Margaret Qualley got real about why there would be a little snag in setting Murray and MacDowell up that she found out from the actor himself:
He was like, ‘You know, your mom and I, we didn’t get along so good while we were making that movie.’ And he was like, ‘You know, she took a long time to get her hair done, and she didn’t know her lines this one time.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, well, I heard a different story, sir.’
So, it appears that The Substance actress heard from her mother about her side of the story regarding the Bill Murray-Andie MacDowell riff decades ago. It’s common for co-stars not to get along during filming, like Charlie Hunnam and Robert Pattinson being at “a real distance” in The Lost City of Z, or Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy having beef on Mad Max: Fury Road. Shooting a movie isn’t easy with stress being brought on to the cast and crew.
Even though Margaret Qualley found out her mother and the Stripes actor didn’t get along, it didn’t stop her from playing matchmaker. Here’s the talented actress’ reasoning why the two stars would still hit it off today:
I’m putting two and two together. He’s living in Charleston. She’s living in Charleston. They’ve got this kind of rage towards each other, but maybe he’s trying to make amends. And I’m like, she’s single, he’s single. They’re both crazy. Let’s get it together! [...] So now, I said to come circle back and get my number if he wants me to connect with my mom. And, you know, if he’s got any sense at all, he’d be the luckiest guy in the world.
Imagine what kind of love story that would be! It wouldn’t be the first time that stars have gotten together years later after working together. Ashton Kutcher started dating his That 70’s Show co-star Mila Kunis six years after their sitcom ended. Not to mention, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar fell in love three years after working on I Know What You Did Last Summer. So why not add the Groundhog Day co-stars?
I have no idea if Bill Murray watched Margaret Qualley’s Tonight Show appearance, but if he did, know that the Golden Globe nominee is giving her seal of approval to date her mom. If you’d like to revisit the chemistry the comedy duo had in Groundhog Day, the time-loop comedy movie is available with your Netflix subscription.
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