…comedies ever made. Keaton said he turned down the role of Phil Connors because he “didn’t get it.” He went on to say that Phil “sounded like the kind of wry, sardonic, glib young man I’ve played, and it ended up being so great. But you…comedies ever made. Keaton said he turned down the role of Phil Connors because he “didn’t get it.” He went on to say that Phil “sounded like the kind of wry, sardonic, glib young man I’ve played, and it ended up being so great. But you can’t do it better than Bill Murray did it.” At least he got that part right.