You woke up into the last movie you've watched, where are you now?

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Somewhere in North Dakota or Minnesota.

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TipRoast said:
Somewhere in North Dakota or Minnesota.

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Factual vs. fictional[edit]

Multiple accounts exist regarding the factual (or fictional) basis for Fargo. The film opens with the following text:
This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred.
​
Closing credits, however, bear the standard "all persons fictitious" disclaimer for a work of fiction.<SUP id=cite_ref-snopes_7-0 class=reference>[7]</SUP>
To resolve this apparent discrepancy, the Coen brothers explained that they based their script on an actual criminal event, but wrote a fictional story around it. "We weren't interested in that kind of fidelity," Joel Coen said. "The basic events are the same as in the real case, but the characterizations are fully imagined ... If an audience believes that something's based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept."<SUP id=cite_ref-8 class=reference>[8]</SUP>
The brothers have modified their explanation more than once. In 1996, Joel Coen told a reporter that—contrary to the opening graphic—the actual murders were not committed in Minnesota.<SUP id=cite_ref-9 class=reference>[9]</SUP><SUP id=cite_ref-We.27re_ready_for_our_close-up.2C_Mr._Coen.28s.29_10-0 class=reference>[10]</SUP> Many Minnesotans speculated that the story was inspired by T. Eugene Thompson, a St. Paul attorney who was convicted of hiring a man to murder his wife in 1963, near the Coens' hometown of St. Louis Park; but the Coens claimed that they had never heard of Thompson. After Thompson's death in 2015, Joel Coen changed the explanation again: “[The story was] completely made up. Or, as we like to say, the only thing true about it is that it’s a story.”<SUP id=cite_ref-11 class=reference>[11]</SUP>
The film's special edition DVD contains yet another account, that the film was inspired by the infamous 1986 murder of Helle Crafts from Connecticut at the hands of her husband, Richard, who disposed of her body through a wood chipper.<SUP id=cite_ref-12 class=reference>[12]</SUP>
Locations[edit]

Fargo was filmed during the winter of 1995, mainly in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and around the actual town of Brainerd (which was the film's original title<SUP id=cite_ref-13 class=reference>[13]</SUP>). Due to unusually low snowfall totals in central and southern Minnesota that winter, scenes requiring snow-covered landscapes had to be shot in northern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota (though not in Fargo itself).<SUP id=cite_ref-14 class=reference>[14]</SUP>
Jerry's initial meeting with Carl and Gaear was shot at a pool hall and bar called The King of Clubs in the northeast section of Minneapolis.<SUP id=cite_ref-15 class=reference>[15]</SUP> It was later demolished, along with most other buildings on that block of Central Avenue, and replaced by low-income housing.<SUP id=cite_ref-16 class=reference>[16]</SUP> Gustafson's auto dealership was actually Wally McCarthy Oldsmobile in Richfield, a southern suburb of Minneapolis. The site is now occupied by Best Buy's national corporate headquarters. The "Welcome to Brainerd" Paul Bunyan statue was built for the film in the northeast corner of North Dakota, near the Canadian border. (Though several present-day Paul Bunyan statues in Minnesota and North Dakota claim to be associated with Fargo, the one actually used in the movie was dismantled after filming was completed.) The Blue Ox motel/truckstop was Stockmen's Truck Stop in South St. Paul, which is still in business. Ember's, the restaurant where Carl discussed the ransom drop with Gustafson, was located in St. Louis Park, the Coens' hometown; the building now houses a medical outpatient treatment center.<SUP id=cite_ref-loc_17-0 class=reference>[17]</SUP>
The Lakeside Club, where Marge interviewed the hookers, was a family restaurant—now closed—in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. The kidnappers' Moose Lake hideout actually stood on the shore of Square Lake, near May, Minnesota. The cabin was relocated to Barnes, Wisconsin in 2002. The Edina police station where the interior police headquarters scenes were filmed is still in operation, but has been completely rebuilt. The Carlton Celebrity Room was an actual venue in Bloomington, Minnesota, and José Feliciano did once appear there, but it had been closed for almost ten years when filming began. The Feliciano scene was shot at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre in Chanhassen, near Minneapolis.<SUP id=cite_ref-loc_17-1 class=reference>[17]</SUP> The ransom drop was filmed in two adjacent parking garages on South 8th Street in downtown Minneapolis. Scenes in the Lundegaards' kitchen were shot in a private home on Pillsbury Avenue in Minneapolis,<SUP id=cite_ref-18 class=reference>[18]</SUP> and the house where Mr. Mohra described the "funny looking little guy" to police is in Hallock, in northwest Minnesota. The motel “outside of Bismarck”, where the police finally catch up with Jerry, is the Hitching Post Motel in Forest Lake, north of Minneapolis.<SUP id=cite_ref-loc_17-2 class=reference>[17]</SUP>
While none of Fargo was actually filmed in Fargo, the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau exhibits original script copies and several props used in the film, including the wood chipper.<SUP id=cite_ref-loc_17-3 class=reference>[17]</SUP> After the movie's release, by some accounts, Brainerd was invaded by shovel-toting moviegoers, inspired by the dubious "based-on-a-true-story" announcement in the opening credits, searching for the buried ransom cash.<SUP id=cite_ref-19 class=reference>[19]</SUP>
Accent[edit]

The film's use of "Minnesota nice" and a "singsong" regional accent are remembered years later, with locals fielding requests to say "Yah, you betcha," and other lines from the movie.<SUP id=cite_ref-20 class=reference>[20]</SUP> According to the film's dialect coach, Liz Himelstein, "the accent was another character." She coached the cast using audio tapes and field trips.<SUP id=cite_ref-21 class=reference>[21]</SUP> Another dialogue coach, Larissa Kokernot (who appeared onscreen playing a prostitute), notes that the "small-town, Minnesota accent is close to the sound of the Nords and the Swedes," which is "where the musicality comes from." She also helped McDormand understand Minnesota nice and the practice of head-nodding to show agreement.<SUP id=cite_ref-22 class=reference>[22]</SUP> The strong accent of Jerry and Marge is less common in the Twin Cities, where over 60% of the state's population lives. Speakers from Minneapolis and St. Paul are more characterized by the Northern cities vowel shift, which is also found in other places in the Northern United States as far east as Rochester, New York. In general, the accent was largely exaggerated.

---------- Post added at 12:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 PM ----------

Q: Where was Groundhog Day filmed?

A: Woodstock, IL



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Chigurh.jpg
 
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