Harold Ramis, first read Chris Miller's short story for Multiplicity when he was directing Groundhog Day. But while, in Groundhog Day, Bill Murray had the chance to get it right by repeating the day, in Multiplicity, businessman Doug Kinney, played by Michael Keaton, has the chance to get things rights by repeating himself. Only he discovers a copy is always a copy, often with the flaws of the original magnified.
I was so happy with the reception of Groundhog Day that I thought it would be great to find another movie with a wonderful kind of fantasy premise combined with spiritual importance,” says Ramis. “When I read Chris (Miller) and Mary's (Hale) original story I thought this is the story of my life. I want to be a film director, but I also want to be a good father and a good husband, and on top of it all, I want to sail around the world and fulfil my own personal fantasies that have nothing to do with these other roles. We all play multiple roles in our lives, and in trying to do it all, parts of our personalities are constantly at war with other parts. I loved the notion of exploring what happens when these conflicting personalities get loose.
Ramis chose Michael Keaton for the lead, an actor who has shown his versatility in playing conflicting personalities from Beetlejuice to Batman. “Michael is amazing,” Ramis says. “No-one has ever attempted to do what he is doing in Multiplicity — playing four different characters, sometimes in the same camera shot in fast comedy scenes with great timing, good jokes and reacting to himself in very specific ways. The magic of it is the combination of the technology and the performances. Christopher Pickard
Prod co: Trevor Albert
Productions Prods: Trevor Albert, Harold Ramis
Dir: Harold Ramis
Scr: Chris Miller, Mary Hale, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
Ph: Laszlo Kovacs
Art dir: Geoff Hubbard
Prod des: Jackson DeGovia
Cos: Shay Cunliffe
Music: George Fenton
Ed: Pam Herring, Craig Herring
Cast: Michael Keaton, Andie MacDowell
Running time: 110 mins
Int'l distribution: Sony
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