Ep. 85: The Hollywood of the Midwest

[00:00:00] Mall of America, it's home to world-class shopping, great dining and amazing attractions and events. And these are our stories presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism. Welcome to So Much More. I am your host once again, Dan Jasper here at Mall of America. I am joined by a colleague and a friend, somebody I've known for years and worked with, Chris Segla. Chris, how are you today? I'm great, Dan. Thank you for such a warm introduction.

[00:00:26] Of course, we're going to have fun today. We're going to, I've often referred to Mall of America as the Hollywood of the Midwest. Now that's kind of my ego, but we've had a lot of productions, a lot of TV stuff done here, some major motion films. And today we're going to venture into that world with our special guests. First, we have Ann Healy of Healy Locations. Ann grew up in Minnesota, has worked on 21 feature films, including Jingle All The Way, right here at Mall of America, among other Minnesota locations.

[00:00:55] Mighty Ducks 2, other films. And also joining us is actress, producer, voice talent, writer, producer, Michelle Hutchinson. Michelle, how are you? Yes! Thank you for saying it right. It's not like the town Hutchinson. Right, exactly. Hutchinson. It's like a sneeze. I was paranoid about this. Hutchinson. Right? I didn't want to, don't put an N in there! No, thank you though. Thank you for doing that.

[00:01:25] Yes, they have. Sorry for that. I am too. We won't do that, I promise. Thank you so much, Dan. And Ann, welcome. How are you? Thank you so much for having us. Thank you, thank you. You both have a history in film production, TV production, other theatrical events, as well as some connections to Mall of America. I know that Michelle, you were in Fargo, my best friend's wedding. I'm going to start right there, if that's alright. This is way off the script already. Sure. But what were those character names again? Of my character? Yes. Actually, I didn't have an actual name, it was Escort. That's right.

[00:01:55] But I named myself Debbie. Debbie, I love it! Debbie from Forest Lake. And who were you, you were dining with somebody, were you not? De Buscemi. That's right. Not Buscemi, Buscemi. How fun was that? It was great. It was my very first film role. Okay. Which was, you know, pretty frightening considering that I was, you know, semi-nude. You know, how proud for my parents, right? That adds pressure. But it's a living. And it wasn't like Weekend at Bernie's, right?

[00:02:24] You know, it's the Coen brothers, so you have to make a decision accordingly. I love it. I love it. And then, Ann, you, Scott, I was looking at your website, which I loved, and your childhood picture is just absolutely- Isn't that funny? That was a quarterback club ad. Was it? Yes, and I picked out my own shirt, and I did not wash my hands, so you can see all the dirty fingernails, which is probably why they went bankrupt. I am. Several years later. Well, with your permission, I'd love if we could share that on our podcast, because it's just absolutely adorable. Yeah, no, it's-

[00:02:53] But I love your bio in there and everything you worked on, but the writing, I love the final sentence of your bio on your page, and it said something to the effect of, so if you're looking for a location in a snowstorm near a blue house, down a dirt road, with an oak tree by a five-car garage, we can help you. That's awesome. It is.

[00:03:17] No, I'm just at the mercy of whoever is describing what their vision is, and then my job is either to go find it or to come back and say, I mean, I really can't say there isn't anything out there. Yeah. That's right.

[00:04:11] Where in Bloomington was that? 84th Street and 4th Avenue. Okay, so it's Bloomington. Yeah, sorry if I'm telling everybody. Very close to Mall of America. I love it. It totally is. It's the world circulating in the malls.

[00:04:41] And I got a job at CCO, and I wanted to be on the I-team. And as soon as I got there, they cut the I-team. And so I was on the assignment desk at night, and I was really loud. And Don would look over at me when he could hear me laughing, like, just shut up. Just shut up. So my friend, Kat Thompson, was the location manager on the Mighty Ducks. And I had just met her. I was helping out somebody on a commercial. And so she called me at work one day, and she said, I need you to go out and scout hockey arenas.

[00:05:11] So A, you called me at my job. I have a job. B, it's the height of hockey season in Minnesota. There is no way anyone is going to let Disney shoot for three months in a hockey arena. So she started to cry. She started to cry, and she said, no one's helping me. I don't know what to do. And so being the codependent person that I am, I took two weeks off, and I went and she handed me a camera, which I didn't know how to use. Yeah. And I mean, I was useless.

[00:05:39] I went to the Met, remember Met State, you know, where the North Stars played? It was right there. It was right there. In that parking lot. We can see it. Yes. So they sent me there when it was still a hockey arena, and I took pictures of it. They turned on all the lights so that I could scout it, and I went to, but that was during the days of film. Yep. We had to wait an hour at Pro-X. Yep. In Calhoun Square. And then they would look at me and say, lady, we have bad news for you. Your pictures are all black. Oh, no. Wow. So I didn't even know this was a job.

[00:06:07] And so I had to go to National Camera over and over again, and they would try and explain how to take pictures. And, you know, I was just useless. So, but I got better, and the two weeks were up, and I was playing basketball with Emilio Estevez and having catered lunches, and I thought, you know what, I'm not going back. So I just, and then that was when we had, you know, it was Mighty Ducks and then Grumpy Old Men and, you know, like all of these movies, and then Fargo and Beautiful Girls, and they all came one after the other. So I just, you know, I'd never look back. Yeah.

[00:06:36] You know, I just didn't know this was a job. I love it. And you turned it into a career. Yeah, except my mother still thinks I pick up garbage. She's like, we sent you to Boston College, and you're picking up garbage now. And it's like, but it's famous garbage. It's very good. I love how you can just casually in the middle of that answer just say, I was playing basketball with Emilio Estevez, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, I mean, it was just like, you know, like just meeting these people and hanging out.

[00:07:05] I mean, it was just like a really fun job that I never thought existed. And the fact that these big movies were coming to Minnesota. Yeah. You know, and the reason why they were happy is because a lot of people don't know about this, but we had all of these food companies, General Mills, Pillsbury, Land O'Lakes. And there was a guy named Steve Griak, and he invented how to shoot food on, you probably were in scenes commercials. He figured out how to shoot food on film. Yeah. Everybody came from all over the country to do their big national spots with Steve.

[00:07:35] So we had people that learned how to be grips and gaffers, and we had equipment houses, and we had camera houses. So when Disney came, they thought they were going to Des Moines, Iowa. Right. You know, with one person that might know how to open a hotel room. And we were already, you know, very sophisticated, and they didn't have to bring most of their crew in. And so when Mighty Ducks was over, Jordan Kerner, the producer, called Grumpy Old Men. He called Warner Brothers, and he said, don't go to Canada. Yeah. You can come to Minnesota.

[00:08:04] You can – there's crew here. You know, you won't have a horrible, you know, nightmare of a film shoot. Yeah. So they believed him, and they did. So that's why it just opened the gates to everything coming here. There's a lot of production here. You know, and so we didn't have to work on porn shoots in L.A. to break in. We got to work with Chris Columbus. Speak for yourself. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Some of your roles. Poor Michelle. I'm kidding.

[00:08:32] So now I'm actually afraid to ask this follow-up question. Michelle, tell us about your journey. Actually, no. It is up here. You've had a long journey in acting and theater and production. Can you share that? Well, I have a degree in theater from the University of Minnesota and started my career here. I thought I was going to move out to either L.A. or New York, but I really – it was a great place to start because the community is just amazing here in terms of the theater.

[00:09:01] There's supposedly more theater per capita than even in New York. So it's pretty amazing. And I started here doing traditional theater, and then I moved on to doing comedy. And that was a natural fit for me. So I worked at Dudley Riggs. I worked with theater sports, comedy sports, the gamut. And Minnesota Shakespeare Company where I'm wearing, you know, basically a curtain into a dress performing at Minnehaha Park. So I've done it all.

[00:09:28] I've done improv in distribution liquor warehouses. I mean, seriously, I feel like I have done it all. I've earned my stripes. I love it. And so when I got into auditioning, I ended up doing commercial work first and foremost, which is pretty typical for actors to do. And then started to audition for film. And one of the first films, of course, that I auditioned for was Fargo.

[00:09:53] And I have to say it's because I took a workshop with a casting director out of Chicago, Jane Brody. And so when Jane was awarded the job, she remembered me. She brought me in. I went and I auditioned for her up at a ballroom. And then the next thing was we're going to have you come back. We're going to meet the national casting director. I met with him. And then they said, OK, you're going to meet the boys. And the boys are the Coen brothers. Yes. They call them the boys, the boys. Oh, man.

[00:10:23] So I had to go in and read for them. And then I got the last callback. And that was between the third and the fourth audition that they said, now, we have to know if you're OK with nudity. And it was like, well, what does that mean? You know, be more specific. But because of who they were and the artists that they are, it's, you know, you barely see anything. Yeah. But I had to make that decision. And it ended up being a very good decision because now it's one of the top 100 films in AFI, which is pretty remarkable.

[00:10:52] And once you have a film like that, it's a stamp of approval. So now you get auditions for everything else. And I got the call from a casting director, David Rubin, out in L.A. And I was, you know, waiting tables in between, you know, doing film shoots. And he called and he said, we want you to audition for this film we're doing called My Best Friend's Wedding. And I said, OK. He goes, we're going to have you come to Chicago. So I went down to Chicago. I read for him there.

[00:11:21] I got back up. And he's like, you're booked on the job, which was great. Awesome. And I get this tome of a script. And I'm reading, reading, reading, reading, reading. Like, where's my role? Where's my part? Where's my part? It says, what was it? There was like a theme of Trashy Girl. It's like, what is this? You know? Like, I'm the goofy next door neighbor. Why am I all of a sudden this person? And so I had one stinking lie. Oh, man. I'm like, no.

[00:11:52] But it's really the way that this director worked. And also David Rubin liked to sort of populate people. And some of those people now, one of them is, you know, she works all the time in L.A. And then that just led to more work and more work and more work. I went out to L.A. for a while. And I auditioned for things out there. And what's fascinating is that Fargo was so popular that they wanted to turn it into a TV series. But not the TV series you know about. It was another rendition. Okay.

[00:12:20] So I go in to audition right after I had done the film. And I'm in L.A. And they said, the casting director looks at me and says, now, do you know how to do the accent? Oh, God. I said, yeah. Yeah. She said, okay, well, let me hear you do it. I said, I was in the movie. It's one of these things so typical. Like, who are you? Yeah, right. Wait, what? I don't know who you are, you know? No. So, yeah. I love it.

[00:12:50] But that didn't happen because the series didn't happen at that time. Yeah. And then, of course, then it did happen. And I was already back in Minnesota. Yeah. It's amazing how our connection – first of all, there's a lot of connections through Minnesota, right? Yes. A lot of production has happened here over the years and some of it taking place here at Mall of America, one of which you've already mentioned, which was Jingle All the Way, which was a huge production. One of my colleagues, Chris Segla, was here working as an events manager at the time.

[00:13:21] And, Chris, do you remember what was going on? When did they shoot Jingle All the Way? When they were here at Mall of America? What time of year? So, it was actually filmed in May. And this was in 1995. And this is such a wonderful reunion with Ann because I had honestly kind of forgotten about you a little bit because I forgot everything that happened at that time frame. That was a long time ago. Because literally no sleep. But, yeah. So, we filmed in May of 95.

[00:13:46] And it was really quite exciting to see all of the Christmas decor and holiday decor going up in the mall in April as we got ready for the filming of the movie, which was about a week here, May 6th through the 13th. And how do guests react when you're decorating the mall for Christmas in April? That's got to be weird, right? A lot of questions. How did the mall walkers react? They asked a lot of questions. Like, they still do to this day. But I think that if you were here, you knew what was going on, right? Because it was in the news.

[00:14:15] And it was a really big deal. And, of course, people were camping out to watch and see it and be at the mall while it was all happening. But leading up to, if you were just a visitor, like many of our guests are from out of state, you had no idea what was going on. If you saw Christmas trees hanging here and Christmas trees. And we were putting up red and green film gels across all the lighting across the mall so that it looked just like Christmas. What was your favorite memory from Jingle All The Way when they were producing or celebrity or what was fun? I really loved Sinbad.

[00:14:45] Okay. Just at the time, he was just hilarious and funny and kind of like someone I'd kind of watched on TV and saw his comedy. Loved Arnold, of course, too. But I don't know if for some reason I had a certain affection to Sinbad. He was just adorable and so sweet and fun. For those watching on YouTube, show the hat that you have in front of you. That's an official crew hat from that production, right? Yes, actually. So we were called location saviors. So some of the mall staff that helped with Ann and Mike Meehan, who was the locations manager.

[00:15:16] Who's a doll. Just a doll. Yes. Got a little crush on him through the process. Very nice. Anyways, so one day he, when we were getting close to the end of filming, he brought a couple of us up. It was me, Tom Rabulo from operations and Lori Meyer from tenant services and one of our security directors at the time. And there was a cart up on the second level on the east side where you could back then, seemed like an amazing thing at that time, make your own hats. And so they made us this hat.

[00:15:45] And it just says, I'm location savior on it. And it's a really fond memory. I still have it 30 years later. It's so old, the plastic broke off of it. And you worked on that production. You were a location person working on Jingle All the Way. What's your favorite memory or the biggest challenge you had during that time? You know, it was just funny because Chris Columbus and Mark Radcliffe, they're Chicago guys.

[00:16:12] And they had done Home Alone and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. And they had, you know, they had an idea of what the house should look like for Arnold. And Leslie McDonald, the production designer, had another idea of what the house looked like. And so, and like they were fighting about like, should it be Brick Colonial? Should it be Frank Lloyd Wright? Should it be this, that? So we ended up getting in a van and we drove around for three days. And they kept pointing out the window. And Mark would always point at Brick Colonials.

[00:16:41] And Leslie would always point at these kind of masculine looking kind of iconic modern houses. And then we drove in Edina. And Edina's, I love Edina. Edina has like the most amazing houses ever, but they're a little bit difficult to permit. And I told the teamster, I'm like, get out of this neighborhood right now. And so, of course, he kept driving farther into the neighborhood. And so we went to this cul-de-sac. And every single person in the van pointed to the same house at the end of the cul-de-sac.

[00:17:11] And all of a sudden, I'm like, no! No! We're in the heart of Edina. And it turned out Edina was awesome. They loved it. They embraced the film. But again, we had to have everybody put their Christmas decorations back up. And, you know, there were 12 houses on the cul-de-sac. And the one across the cul-de-sac had said, they said no. They didn't want to deal with it. They didn't want to deal with, you know. And so everybody else had the best time ever. And they put their Christmas decorations up.

[00:17:40] And our production designer's like, oh, no. And so we, you know, like, it was like that Snoopy with the, you know, like redoing the Christmas tree. We decked out their houses like amazing lights and amazing decorations. And, you know, of course, everybody got money. And they got to keep their decorations. And then Arnold, he arranged for them to get a Christmas card photo with him, each family, you know, and paid for the photographer. And so everybody came out in May in their Christmas sweaters with Arnold. I love it. I love it.

[00:18:10] Very cool. But it was, it turned out to be kind of a love fest for Edina. And then, you know, these kids would come home from school. And Arnold would say, okay, kids, time for pictures. And the Bear kids would come up. And he would take pictures with all of these little kids that came back from, you know, whatever elementary school they were coming home from. Yeah. He would stop and autograph stuff for people here at the mall when he was filming. Oh, yeah. He was amazing. He was very, very nice. Really approachable, just a normal guy, you know. It's just, I didn't expect that.

[00:18:38] And he was the nicest person that I've ever worked with. We had Planet Hollywood here at the time. And he would go there all the time. And he loved the famous chicken crunch. And so he would have that. But he went in one day and it was kind of quiet. And he went to Molly, Mulvihill Stanky. She was the PR director. And he said, we need to have a party. We need to get some people in here. And in the middle of the filming that week, threw a party at Planet Hollywood late at night.

[00:19:03] It was a cigar party back in the day when you could actually smoke indoors in restaurants and bars. I had my very first cigar, I will say, after a four-course dinner, after no sleep. And the only thing I'd eaten that week was craft services. And now I'm at a big party with all these celebrities. And I'm smoking a cigar and then just leaving and going right back to work and continuing for the rest of the week. But he was just so nice and wonderful at that party too. Just really cordial and really nice and met everybody and took pictures and stuff.

[00:19:33] Just the cigar budget was $60,000. Oh my gosh. No. It was in the props budget. Yep. That was a rider that he had. That's hysterical. I love it. I think what's pretty amazing is that people who obviously when we're a purveyor of films and television, and we only see the people who are in front, right? Yes. But you recognize once you soon work on one, all of the energy and the time that goes into making it,

[00:19:58] which are people that are doing all that thoughtfulness around what does it look like, and then getting a whole neighborhood bought into it. So it's a great lesson, I think, when you've worked or been privy to a film set or TV set. You know, it really is. And when you go and see a film or watch one at home, how frequently do people sit through the credits? It's pretty rarely. Rarely. Right? Unless they know there's a teaser at the end or something. Or their name is in it. Or their name is in it.

[00:20:28] Yeah, my parents. Michelle Hutchinson. I know her. But it's astonishing how many people. How many names. It's a team, a huge team. And it's even gotten more and more. Like, the credits now on a typical movie, you'll have 1,000 people, you know, working because of all the digital stuff now and the sound and the special effects. And so it's just insane. We talked about how fun Arnold and Sinbad were, and they were good.

[00:20:55] I'm just wondering, from your perspective, do you have one or two favorites that you've worked with over the years that you go like, oh, this person was just a gem? Or have a good story? Of course, Steve, you know, was a complete and utter gentleman. Awesome. And it was a very intimate thing. So that was, he was wonderful to work with. I also worked with Greg Kinnear on the movie. It was first coined the convincer, and then now it ended up being thin ice. Thin ice. Okay, yeah. And so I have to say I was very proud of the fact that I made him crack up time after time.

[00:21:25] And he was really great. He's a nice guy. And it was a very difficult shoot. It was 30 days. He was on set every day. And one of the things, you know, that I like to do is say, okay, everybody, let's get a picture together. Yeah. And we would, you know, squeeze all ourselves together and get a photo. But he was always very amenable to that. That's awesome. And a good soul, you know, working with people. And actually, we filmed at the Thunderbird Hotel. Not too far. Right. That was right there. It was right. Of course, they tore it down. That's cool.

[00:21:55] That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Too far from the Mall of America. I didn't know that. Yeah. No, totally. You must have an amazing collection of photos. I do. Of cast and crew and stuff. To a degree. Yeah. Okay. You know, and I think it's always tricky because you're working. Yeah. And you know, when you're working with people that are sort of big shot people, they come into town, you always feel like, well, you know, I'm this person who's working in Minnesota. Sure. But you start to build a little more credibility.

[00:22:25] And pulling out the camera and taking photos always feels like a, you know, a fan base moment. So it can be embarrassing to do that. Yeah. But I try to. I worked on a show out in L.A. with Maria Bamford. And I don't know if you worked on that Lady Dynamite television series. No. Yeah. I scouted it, but I didn't work on it. I got to work on that. And that was amazing, too. So we shot part of it here in the Twin Cities.

[00:22:53] And then part of it was shot, the second season was shot out in Los Angeles. So I got to do both places. Very fun. And they were both fabulous opportunities. Here in Minnesota, you worked on a couple of things I read also on your website that you got to take someone ice fishing once. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. What was that all about? So, all right. So we were doing North Country and Warner Brothers. Again, Warner Brothers loves Minnesota. So we're hoping that they come back with some more movies. Good. Because, you know, they're their best.

[00:23:23] So Charlize Theron, Sean Bean, who was, you know, from the North Country or from, you know, what is it? What was he? He was the Stark. He was the Elder Stark in Game of Thrones. So anyway, so they wanted desperately to have these people learn what it was like to live on the Iron Range. And so we took, I arranged to have some guys from Avaluth take Charlize ice fishing.

[00:23:48] So, and they had a spot and the wives had never, ever been invited. And so she went and she was in the ice fishing house. And then the wives heard that this beautiful blonde woman was in their husband's ice fishing house. And so they all got in the car and drove down. And there was a little bit of a confrontation because they were really mad. And then, of course, Charlize was so lovely and, you know, and then so we had Sean Bean

[00:24:13] go with Teamsters and they went on a bar crawl and they were in Avaluth at a bar and somebody had heard that he was in the movie, which they were a little nervous about because it was portraying the miners and not so great of a light. And so they punched Sean. He fell to the floor. He was going to get up and he was, you know, pulling, you know, he's going to punch this guy from Avaluth and like, thank God the Teamster like grabbed his arms. And it's like, no, you can't punch the people that live here.

[00:24:43] We need them. So like, I felt bad because both of them were like conflict, you know, averse, just these nice actors that were just trying to figure out how to talk in a Minnesota accent. And then they get in fights. Oh my gosh. But they love, actually, and then Woody Harrelson was up there too. And I had never worked with him before. And I was worried because I thought he was, I had heard that he was hard to deal with. They loved him up there.

[00:25:09] He ended up staying in an extra month with his daughter because he loved the Iron Range so much. I love it. And there was a, there was a place in Gilbert, Minnesota, which pretty much was strip clubs. One was called the Goliath. Why are you pointing at me? Yeah. I noticed that too. Glad she didn't point at me. But it was, it was a trip. Old strip club. The Goliath. Yeah. No, it was nothing but strip clubs.

[00:25:36] But there was this, this Jamaican restaurant and all the crew, they, it turned into Hollywood and all the crew and the, and the kingpins would get reservations. And then they would all wave at each other, you know, from this, you know, from their tables at this Jamaican restaurant in the midst of like this tiny little town on the Iron Range that was mostly strip clubs. So it was just really odd, you know. What else are you going to do on the Iron Range? You know? It's Minnesota. Welcome. And I watched Moose. Totally.

[00:26:07] No, but they were really happy because Sissy Spacek was also in the movie. That's right. And she was a coal miner's daughter. So they, you know, like they didn't really know who Charlize was, but they were so happy when, when Sissy was up there. So that was really fun. I could listen to your stories all day. Unfortunately, our time is drying nigh here shortly. What I would love to do is from each of you. I'm the first round of this is I would love to hear a fun production related story that

[00:26:35] either includes Mall of America or not, but something that is really fun. And I'm trying to see who's going to avoid eye contact the most. So Chris, you get a start. Dan, you're really going to put me on the spot. I, I, I mean, there's so many fabulous memories. I've had a lot of really good lives and different careers. Um, I've toured with musicians and done production for touring. I was a roadie and being at Mall of America and I was in radio. I worked for WCCO as well, which is kind of funny to hear you mention that.

[00:27:02] But I think, um, concerts are one of my favorites, which I've had the luck to do both at Mall of America with Jam Against Hunger. And then the hundreds of performances that we've had in the rotunda, um, as well as then obviously being out on the road. So I think, um, concert production for me is, uh, and music is one of my favorites and just all of the stories are fabulous. I don't have anything that just sticks out right now. Um, except wait, Madison Square Garden. So yes, um, I was on tour with John Legend and for the last show, I got to actually like

[00:27:32] go sit out in the crowd and watch a little bit of the show. Um, but then just the, um, you know, the, that moment of being in Madison Square Garden, running around backstage, running in the depths and the bowels of the different places that no one ever gets to see. And I think, you know, being in production, those things we get to experience are amazing. I think of that, what your friends think you do, what your mom thinks you do, what you really do means. And it's kind of funny, you mentioned it earlier and your mom and your parents actually do think you pick up trash, which is pretty much what we do. Part of the job. Yeah.

[00:28:03] So I think that that just overall, just the overall production of, um, concerts and events is pretty special. Michelle, how about for you? They're endless. I mean, I think what it is, is that when you're performing and you're working with production and crew and other actors, there's a fraternity that's there. And so I think whenever we get to work with people of more well-renowned, then there's, there's sort of like a bit of stardust with it. But really at the end of the day, what you're doing is you're working with fellow artists

[00:28:31] and we all understand that. And one thing I can say about Minneapolis, having worked here, not only as an actor, but also working in assisting and casting, also had the opportunity to work as a writer and a producer. We have a wealth of talent in this town. And having worked in a casting office, assisting, uh, one of the things that a lot of people at least say when they come into Minneapolis, St. Paul is they say, you have so many great actors here.

[00:29:00] Like to your point, they, they think, oh, we're going to Des Moines and there might be five people in the community theater when actually you have a lot of people who are performing at some of the finest theaters. The Guthrie being one of them. Yes. Dudley Riggs is akin to, um, uh, the Groundlings or Second City. And a lot of people that I've worked with have gone on to do great things. And then a lot of people come back and they cast here, they work here. And it's a wonderful place to certainly live and play your craft.

[00:29:30] I love it. So that's my pitch. Good. I love it. Anne. Um, I, I'm proud of our community just because, you know, like I get them when they come from the airport and they're, they're not sure they want to even stay for a night, you know? And, and I remember when Mike Meehan and I were here and he was just staying here for a day and then he was going to go to Milwaukee and look at them all in Milwaukee. And that's where they were going to shoot jingle all the way. They had no intention of coming to Minnesota, not one bit.

[00:29:58] And I remember we were standing outside. It was Camp Snoopy then. And, and it was so loud. And, and he was getting a call from somebody and he couldn't, he's like, what, what? And then, and then he cut off the phone. He goes, well, I guess we're filming here. And, and because Arnold had said, I want to film at the mall of America. I don't want to go to Milwaukee. And so, and he, he trumped Chris Columbus and Mark Radcliffe's votes because, and, and, and he just loved, he had been here, you know, part of it was, you know, because of Planet

[00:30:28] Hollywood, but he loved them all. And like his favorite store at the mall, Sunglass Hut. You're kidding. No, no. But I, again, everybody that came here was skeptical except for him, you know, and everybody that left here couldn't believe how great the shoot went, you know, and it's because we have a good work ethic. There are people that moved to California from our, our state a long time ago and they

[00:30:56] have, they, they get called all the time because they have the best work ethic. They're just straight shooters. There's, you know, like I'm really proud of our state because we represent ourselves really well over and over again. Yeah. You know? And so like we got the doubting Thomases that I'm driving in a van and it's my job to turn them around, but, but I don't really need to, all I have to do is show them what's here. Yeah. And they're, you know, like if they're smart, they'll say, oh my God, I'm so glad we got here.

[00:31:23] And this is everything we could have hoped for, you know, and then you look at jingle all the way. It looks like a postcard. Everything that's great about the metro area is in that movie. And you have, and you have a depth of talent that's underneath it. Right. Which is the other thing. They didn't have to bring everybody in. No, you don't. And that's, that's what's pretty, and that's what, and I know I'm talking about the Coens. I've worked with a lot of other people, but I appreciate that about them is they might

[00:31:49] have a couple of their ringers, but then they, they give great, you know, leading roles to other actors like John Carroll Lynch who played, he had never even done film prior to that. No, he was at the Guthrie. Right. He was in the history plays. But he hadn't necessarily had done that type of, and I saw one of his, they were, there's a local guy, Todd Melby, who wrote a book about the making of Fargo. And so I got to know Todd and he's written about different things.

[00:32:17] And John Carroll Lynch, one of his first auditions and my auditions on there too, surfaced. And you could hear this conversation with the casting director saying, so I know I'm supposed to make it smaller, right? And he's asking her direction about how to audition. Well, then he went on, you know, he was smart. He leveraged that experience and, you know, the rest is history as well as a lot of people. Yeah. I could sit here for the next two hours and visit with you and I would love to on another

[00:32:45] occasion, but I can't, unfortunately. Oh, come on. So we're going to have to draw this conversation to an end. But the theme that I heard from all three of you, honestly, was that there are a lot of extremely talented people that are supportive and it's a strong community here and elsewhere, but Minnesota, something we can be really proud of. And so for joining me today, I'd like to thank you, Anne and Michelle and Chris for sharing

[00:33:12] your stories, your fun memories of production here in Minnesota and at Mall of America. And for everyone who is watching and listening today, thank you so much for joining us on So Much More. We hope that you will like, you will subscribe and please check out more for my guests because they are amazing people. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for listening to So Much More, a Mall of America podcast. Subscribe wherever you find your favorite podcasts. This show is presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism.