The “Beautiful Girls” Houses

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As I remarked last week, one of my very favorite films of all time is the 1996 flick Beautiful Girls.  But, being that no one that I’ve mentioned the movie to as of late has ever even heard of it, I’m guessing it was pretty much a sleeper hit, despite its all-star cast.  Nevertheless, I’ve absolutely loved the film ever since it first came out almost fifteen years ago and have probably seen it no less than thirty times.  So, when I found out that my dad had been accepted to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, a light bulb immediately went off in my head, as I had a somewhat vague recollection that Beautiful Girls had been filmed in the North Star State.  A quick visit to the movie’s IMDB filming locations page confirmed my beliefs – the entire thing had been shot on location in the Land of 10,000 Lakes!  So, I immediately called upon “the Team” – aka fellow stalkers Owen, Chas from Itsfilmedthere, and Mike, from MovieShotsLA – to see if they could help me track down some of the locales featured in the flick, which they, sure enough, did.  Amazingly enough, just a few days later, Owen sent me an email with an attachment and, let me tell you, I just about died upon opening it.  Somehow he had gotten his hands on the master location list from the movie – a document which detailed EACH AND EVERY LOCATION WHERE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS WAS SHOT!  I’m not kidding!  I was so excited I just about had a heart attack right then and there!  I had hoped that one of the Team would be able to track down the homes belonging to Willie (aka Timothy Hutton) and Marty (aka Natalie Portman) in the flick, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I’d be able to stalk pretty much every location which appeared in the movie.  THANK YOU, OWEN!  🙂

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For those who have yet to see Beautiful Girls – which I am rapidly discovering is most people! – the movie centers around a young piano player named Willie Conway, who returns to his hometown, the fictional Knights Ridge, Massachusetts, in order to attend his high school reunion and to make some life-changing decisions about his future.  While home, he spends time with his old high school buddies and meets his new next-door neighbor, a precocious thirteen year old named Marty, whom he immediately befriends.  According to Wikipedia, screenwriter Scott Rosenberg came up with the idea for Beautiful Girls while spending time in his hometown of Boston while waiting for a response from Disney about a little script he had just submitted to them titled Con Air.  He said, “It was the worst winter ever in this small hometown.  Snow plows were coming by, and I was just tired of writing these movies with people getting shot and killed.  So, I said, ‘There is more action going on in my hometown with my friends dealing with the fact that they can’t deal with turning 30 or with commitment’ – all that became Beautiful Girls.”  Director Ted Demme said of the setting of the film, “[I] wanted to make it look like it’s Anytown, USA, primarily East Coast.  And I also wanted it to feel like a real working-class town.”  Demme found his Anytown, USA in the city of Stillwater, Minnesota, where most of the sites from the movie are located, including the two I most wanted to stalk – the homes belonging to Willie and Marty.

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I am very happy to report that Willie’s house, which is pictured above, looks very much the same today as it did back in 1996 when Beautiful Girls was filmed – minus the snow, of course.  As fate would have it, the owner of the property happened to be outside when we arrived to stalk the place and he truly could NOT have been nicer.  And, although he didn’t purchase the home until 2005, long after Beautiful Girls had been filmed, he knew quite a bit about the movie and what areas of the house had been used in it. 

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As you can see in the house’s real estate listing from 2005, the interior scenes were not actually filmed on the premises.  The home’s real life interior is absolutely gorgeous, while its onscreen counterpart was pretty dismal and dreary.  In the movie, Marty comments to Willie, “It’s a lonely house, you don’t mind me saying.”  And I have to say that the set dressers and production designers did an excellent job of building a set which did, indeed, look very lonely.

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According to the now-owner, the only “interior” of the house that was used in the movie was the second story window, from which Willie talks to Marty late one night in a set-up which Marty describes as “Romeo and Juliet – the dyslexic version.”  😉

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Marty’s house is located right next-door to Willie’s, and it, too, looks much the same as it did in the movie.

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The only difference I noticed is that the fence which surrounded the property in the movie is not there in real life.

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And, of course, I just had to re-create the scene in Beautiful Girls is which Marty is shown “mashing snow” in her side yard – even though there was no actual snow for me to mash.   🙂

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And I was SUPER excited to discover that the little space under the house where Marty stored her sled in the movie was there in real life, too.  So darn cool!  I can’t tell you how heartwarming it was for me to stalk these two residences, as almost all of my favorite scenes from Beautiful Girls took place there.  If you are at all a fan of the movie, I highly recommend stalking the houses as they are sure to bring back some great memories.

On a side note – my absolute favorite scene from Beautiful Girls was the ice-skating scene with Marty and Willie, which you can watch by clicking above.  And while I did not get to stalk the lake where that scene was filmed, I do know its location, thanks to Owen.  For those who are interested, Marty and Willie’s ice skating lake is Lake William, which is located on Minnetonka Boulevard in Shorewood, Minnesota. 

BIG, HUGE THANK YOU to Owen for finding this – and every other Beautiful Girls – location for me!  🙂 

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Willie Conway’s house from Beautiful Girls is located at 1337 2nd Street South in Stillwater, Minnesota, about 25 miles east of Minneapolis.  Marty’s house is located right next-door at 1341 2nd Street South.

23 Replies to “The “Beautiful Girls” Houses”

  1. Thanks so much for posting these photos! Big fan of “Beautiful Girls” just saw it showing on Starz this month and was curious about the filming locations, a quick search lead me here. Thanks to you for making the trip!

  2. It’s amazing that every time I look online for a location I end up on this website! Beautiful Girls has been a sentimental favorite of mine since I saw it in the theater and I have watched it a million times since. The funny thing is that it took me years of countless viewings to realize Steve Rossmore was Sam Robards, who stars in my other favorite coming-of-age movie, Fandango. He looks so different, which makes sense given the 11 year span between movies. For some reason after seeing Beautiful Girls many times something in his voice finally clicked when he said, “I’m just trying to save my family.”

    I have good friends in Edina, so I know what I’ll be doing the next time I visit!

  3. Interesting. I was a cop working dog watch back when that movie was filmed. I worked in the city next to Edina, Minnesota and a couple cops I knew from that department mentioned a movie being filmed in Edina that night. It was about 2am and I drove over to the location since it was a very cold winter night with zero calls coming in. It turned out to be the scene where Matt Dillion is parked in the driveway seated in an old pickup with a snow plow. I don’t recall the address now after all these years. But I struck up a conversation with a guy standing near the set about 100 feet off where the filming was taking place. After about 5 minutes of small talk I asked him how he was associated with the movie. He told me he was one of the producers. I vaguely recall what he looked like now, but upon checking out the photos of producers associated with Beautiful Girls I can tell you it was either Alan Bloomquist or Cary Woods. While standing there conversing, Matt Dillion got out of the pickup in the driveway and ran over to the trailer (and I do mean ran) as I assume he was cold and wanted to warm up. I later told people that Dillion ran so close to me that if I would have stuck out my leg he would have done a face plant in the street. I was hoping to see the address on this site but it’s not noted. Anyway, thanks for putting up the site. Very interesting reading.

    1. I’ve always wondered about the Edina house. It was owned by Lauren Holly in the movie. Your comment inspired me to take a look for it again and I found it thanks to a real estate listing that mentioned the filming! It’s at 4901 East Sunnyslope Road in Edina.

      1. Ahhhh . . . That’s it. I was thinking the street was Sunset or something along those lines but you’re right. I was Sunnyslope. Thanks Lindsay! I’ll have to drive by there the next time I get down to the south metro.

  4. can you please tell me the address of the house used as Darian Smalls home? My wife and I have a debate about the house across the street.

  5. I grew up in Stillwater, MN and frequent there quite a bit. Once in awhile I like to drive around and check out all the locations shot there for various movies over the years. Woody Harrelson just shot some scenes this summer for a movie that will be coming out that I believe is called Wilson.

  6. Really appreciate all your pics and blogs as this is a very meaningful movie to me and my wife -one which we see every year around the holidays. So cool you went to all those places and very heartwarming and nostalgic to see and read about them. Thanks so much!

  7. So my son started going to a daycare a year ago, and I’ve been trying to figure out why the house across the street looks so familiar. Tonight I stumbled across your site and figured it out! His daycare is right across the street! I grew up in Stillwater so it’s always fun to hear an outsider’s perspective! Great site! 🙂

  8. You should have visited the coffee shop they frequent. It’s a fantastic little place with tons of charm!

  9. I found your blog on google when I was looking for the locations where Beautiful Girls was shot in Stillwater. I have always loved the movie since it was out in the theater. It has always held a special place in my heart because I also live in Stillwater, MN. I had always wanted to know where the specific shots where filmed, and now I do! Thanks for all of the great things you said about our city :). We love it too!

  10. I watched this night Beautiful Girls by sixth time probably, and searching by internet I found this page.
    Beautiful Girls is my favorite film too, it has melancolic times, troubles, love stories, fights and laughing time, it’s simple incredible. I always wanted to visit the imaginary “Knight Ridge” and thanks to this, when I’ll have the money, I could go there. Nice page, and greetings from Spain!

  11. I haven’t watched that movie neither, I’ll have to do it so!

    By the way, just landed back at Spain after 3 days trapped in Paris airport for the volcano cloud :S

    Thanks for the post, very, very interesting 😉

    1. OMG David, that is terrible! Am so sorry!!! Was wondering why I hadn’t heard from you. By the way, is something going on with your email? All of the emails I have written to you this week have gotten kicked back to me for some reason. 🙁

  12. Heard of movie but never watched it..on my list to watch now! I love Timothy Hutton and Natalie Portman – not sure how I missed this one.

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