It should surprise nobody that the Drive Angry 3D script written by Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer was inspired by a plethora of other films. Based on the tradition of road movies from the late 60s and 70s, elements ranging from the cars the characters drive to plot elements come straight out of that era. The title, however, does not - that credit goes to Harold Ramis' comedy Groundhog Day.
Just yesterday I sat down with Lussier and Farmer to discuss their newest film and one question that I asked was regarding the direct influences that the writers used while developing the film. But amongst titles like Vanishing Point, Duel, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Race With The Devil, Lussier made a point of mentioning the Bill Murray comedy. Now you may be asking yourself, "What the hell does one thing have to do with the other?" During a scene in which Murray's character, Phil Connors, steals the groundhog known as Punxsutawney Phil and while letting the little rodent drive offers up a little bit of advice: "Don't drive angry, don't drive angry." Cut off the "don't" and you have yourself a movie title.
Even without knowing this little bit of information Drive Angry is a great title, but a tie-in to Groundhog Day only makes it better. I've embedded the clip from the movie below, the quote in question coming right around the 1:37 mark. Stay tuned later today when I post my full interview with Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer.
