Sort of. Figuratively speaking of course. I can’t remember exactly how I discovered that the next town over from where I lived was where the Tim Burton classic Edward Scissorhands was filmed, but it was very soon after we moved here in 2005. Google told me that a tiny subdivision in Lutz (pronounced lootz), FL was where the infamous cookie-cutter neighbor hood still existed today. The neighboring town of Land O’ Lakes was also used to gather the plants needed for filming. You can read more at this St. Petersburg Times article.
I decided to do some research and was able to drive through the Carpenter’s Run subdivision and attempt to find Edward’s house. Or Winona Ryder’s, really. Edward’s house, the gothic mansion at the end of the street on a hill (pretty unusual here in Florida on all counts), was actually just a facade built in a separate location.
More exterior shots, in the shopping center, were filmed in nearby Lakeland, FL and most of those locations are still intact today. In addition, the famous cast stayed at the Saddlebrook Resort, a golf and tennis compound which also features condos, townhomes and houses to vacation in or own. Saddlebrook is actually in my town and just a few miles down the road from me.
When I drove through the Carpenter’s Run neighborhood, I couldn’t really tell at all which houses were used in the filming. Tim Burton had had them all painted pastel like Easter eggs, sometimes boarding up windows or architectural details for uniformity. When filming was complete, all of the houses were returned to their ‘normal’ state. Of course now 21 years have passed and I’m sure many neighbors have come and gone and made their own changes to the homes there. I was able to find out that the family home was actually on the corner of Tinsmith Circle, but again, I never would’ve recognized it without knowing.
I thought since I am moving away, I should finally get around to this blog post I’d wanted to do about our famous one-time neighbors. I like little back-stories and behind-the-scenes facts like this. I’m not really the kind of person that gets starstruck, but even I have to admit it would be pretty cool to know that Johnny Depp hung out in your house and your backyard. Of course, once we move to Celebration, I’ll have some pretty cool neighbors too.
I thought I’d head out and take some photos to share here, but in my research I found a few YouTube videos that I figured would do a better job of explaining the locations and such. Even if the second video narrator can’t pronounce Lutz correctly. Really, why *would* you pronounce Lutz like loootz? Anyway, enjoy!
Has anything been filmed in your “back yard”?
