This month the Tim Burton movie "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) has been on television on a fairly regular basis. I decided to watch it again, as it has been a while since I last saw this film, and I got to wondering about the fictional suburban neighborhood which is the backdrop for most of the scenes. Much to my surprise, I discovered that the place was not a movie set, but an actual subdivision in Lutz, Florida. At the time the movie was made, the subdivision was brand new, so there really was no mature landscaping. The houses were painted four very specific pastel colors just for the movie, but other than some minor modifications the architecture of the homes was almost unchanged.
Even more interesting is the fact that the neighborhood still exists, and there are at least two sites with before and after photos! The most recent post has some pretty amazing images:
What a difference 25 years makes! It's hard to believe that there are so many stately trees now in a place where there were once no trees at all, but in Florida's mild climate I suppose a couple of decades is plenty of time for trees to mature. Even more surprising is how little that house on the corner has changed, other than the paint color -- even the privacy fence looks original!
As in the first photo, little seems to have changed in this part of the neighborhood either, except for paint color and more landscaping (and the addition of a stop sign?).
The movie home of the Boggs family, who took the title character in to live with them, still looks very much the same as well (that is Dianne Wiest as Peg Boggs and Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands in the top photo). I prefer the new paint color, but I think I would add some plantings to replace the shrubs seen along the front of the movie house so that it looks a little less bare. I do like the little palm tree!
A post from three years earlier has even more before and after pictures. Check out the back yard of the Boggs house compared to what the yard looks like now:
The little citrus tree is nice, but the family topiary created by Edward in the movie yard is so unique (Alan Arkin as Bill Boggs, Robert Oliveri as Kevin Boggs, and Johnny Depp in the top photo)!
In the movie this house belonged to Joyce, the neighborhood seductress, played by Kathy Baker. The owners have done a great job with the house, in my opinion, and it looks very attractive.
Another location used in the movie is the Southgate Shopping Center in nearby Lakeland, Florida, which has a very retro 1950s appearance that does not seem to have changed much at all.
Take a look at both posts for even more photos of the "Edward Scissorhands" neighborhood, then and now. And in case you were wondering, here are a few interior scenes from the movie (all of which were movie sets in California, by the way):
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| From the witch of the waste |
Should you feel the urge to watch the movie, it will be shown on IFC one more time this month, on August 31st at 5:45 PM EST. Have a wickedly wonderful day in the neighborhood!
Interesting facts: An extinct lobster-type creature with scissor-like claws was named Kootenichela deppi after Johnny Depp as his Edward Scissorhands character. And Lutz, Florida, earned the strange nickname "Cactus Hat" after an unusual type of cactus called Cleistocactus, normally only found in the mountainous areas of South America, mysteriously began to grow abundantly in the town in 2003 (cue the creepy "Twilight Zone" music here!).
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