Bill Murray Reprises His Role as Phil Connors in a Clever ‘Groundhog Day’ Jeep Gladiator Super Bowl Ad

In the very clever Super Bowl ad for Jeep, a wonderfully deadpan Bill Murray seamlessly reprises his role as weatherman Phil Connors from the classic 1995 film Groundhog Day.

As in the film, Connors relives Groundhog Day over and over while on location in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania again until he gets it right. Rather than his original goal of getting Rita Hanson (Andie McDowell) to fall in love with him, however, Connors falls in love with a bright orange hybrid 2020 Jeep Gladiator and is more than happy to spend the rest of his days driving around with the titular groundhog in tow. Even good old Ned Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky) made a small cameo – bing!

It’s “Groundhog Day” all over again as Jeep brand debuts a Big Game spot starring Bill Murray (in his first-ever national television commercial). But this time reliving the same day over and over again is always a new adventure when you’re driving the 2020 Jeep Gladiator. Jeep. There’s only one.

Here’s the driving scene from the original Groundhog Day film along with the original trailer.

Jeep released a Director’s Cut of the Groundhog Day Super Bowl ad with 45 seconds of extra footage.

Here’s the behind-the-scenes video showing how it was made.