Edina at the Movies: Famous Films Connected to Our 'Burb

Do you have Oscar fever, yet?

While the 2013 iteration of the Oscars won't hit airwaves until 7:30 p.m. CST—6 p.m. for red carpet arrivals—it doesn't mean Edinans can't have a little bit of fun Sunday afternoon with a trip down memory lane via several locally shot films.

Nearly a dozen movies have had scenes shot in Edina, according to the Internet Movie Database. That list includes such cinema classics as Fargo—the interior of the former City Hall and Police Department were used as the film's police station—which secured two Oscars back in '97.

Check out these films and see which local landmarks you can spot.

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The Mighty Ducks Series

• Release date: 1992-96
• IMDb summary: “A self-centered lawyer is sentenced to community service coaching a rag tag youth hockey team.”
• Stars: Emilio Estevez, Joss Ackland, Lane Smith, Vincent Larusso
• Edina connection: No, it wasn't actually shot in Edina. But it's hard to make a list of Edina-related films without at least mentioning The Mighty Ducks. Adam Banks, one of the main characters in the films, hails from Edina and gets plenty of grief from his teammates for it. And, yes, he's referred to as a "cake-eater." *Sigh*

Little Big League

• Release date: 1994
• IMDb summary: “A young boy is bequeathed the ownership of a professional baseball team.”
• Stars: Luke Edwards, Timothy Busfield, John Ashton
• Edina connection: The opening scene of the film was shot at one of Countryside Park's baseball diamonds. An umpire sporting an Edina Athletic Association t-shirt is clearly visible.

World and Time Enough

• Release date: 1994
• IMDb summary: "Two men--a gay, HIV-positive artist and an adopted garbage collector--struggle in the face of stigma and loss to find meaning in work, love, and family."
• Stars: Jennifer Jordan Campbell, Kathleen Fuller, Gregory Giles
• Edina connection: Substantial portions of the film were shot in Edina.

The Cure

• Release date: 1995
• IMDb summary: "Dexter, age 11, who has AIDS, and his next door neighbor Eric, a little older and much bigger, become best friends. Eric also becomes closer to Dexter's mother than to his own, who is neglectful and bigoted and violently forbids their friendship upon learning of it. When they read that a doctor in distant New Orleans claims to have found a cure for AIDS, the boys leave home on their own, planning to float down the Mississippi river and find him."
• Stars: Joseph Mazzello, Brad Renfro, Aeryk Egan
• Edina connection: Portions of the film were shot in Edina.

Fargo

• Release date: 1996
• IMDb summary: "Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson."
• Stars: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi
• Edina connection: The film's police station is actually Edina's former City Hall and Police Department, which is now the parking lot for the current City Hall.

Beautiful Girls

• Release date: 1996
• IMDb summary: "A piano player at a crossroads in his life returns home to his friends and their own problems with life and love."
• Stars: Matt Dillon, Timothy Hutton, Noah Emmerich
• Edina connection: An Edina home with a driveway is supposedly featured in snowplow scenes.

Jingle All the Way

• Release date: 1996
• IMDb summary: "A married father decides to dream the impossible dream, to get that year's hot toy for his son just before Christmas Day."
• Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, Phil Hartman
• Edina connection: Several scenes were shot in Edina's Brucewood neighborhood, near Arden Park.

Mulligan

• Release date: 2000
• Hollywood.com summary: "This golf comedy centers around four friends who regularly hit the links for a game of 18 holes. Notorious for their knack of screwing up their game, as well as their lives, the golf course serves as a backdrop for the growing tension between the men, a certifiable golfing bully and a beautiful, but mysterious, woman known to frequent the links herself."
• Stars: Steve Lattery, Joshua Will, Cedric Yarbrough
• Edina connection: Portions of the film were shot in Edina. It's quite possible one of the city's golf courses has been immortalized by the film.

Bill's Gun Shop

• Release date: 2001
• IMDb summary: "A job at Bill's Gun Shop, a permit to carry, and a chance to ride 'shotgun' on a bounty-hunt seem like 23-year-old Dillon McCarthy's dream come true. When the gun kills, Dillon is forced to decide for himself: 'What's the price of a permit to carry?'"
• Stars: Jesse Abbott, Rith Afton, M. Cochise Anderson
• Edina connection: Portions of the film were shot in Edina.

Horror House

• Release date: 2008
• IMDb summary: "Aspiring actors and actresses are lured by a twisted filmmaker to an empty house to shoot a horror movie. The movie becomes frighteningly real when the attractive cast are killed off slowly and methodically while the cameras roll."
• Stars: Emily Fradenburgh, Justen Overlander, Gary David Keast
• Edina connection: Portions of the film were shot in Edina.

A Serious Man

• Release date: 2009
• IMDb summary: "A black comedy drama centered on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel through multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking for meaning and answers he seems to stay stalled."
• Stars: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Sari Lennick
• Edina connection: The interior of home in the Highlands neighborhood was used in the film.

Contagion 

• Release date: 2011
• IMDb summary: "A thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak."
• Stars: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law
• Edina connection: Technically speaking, none of it was filmed in Edina. But in a fun twist, the titular disease originates in Edina and one of the characters visits Fairview Southdale Hospital.

Do you know of other films shot within the boundaries of Edina? Let us know in the comments below.

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