Minnesota actor brings cameras to home state to film movie starring Beau Bridges
MINNEAPOLIS -- An actor born and raised in Minnesota is making sure a story based on her real-life experiences is authentically Minnesota.
"Days When the Rains Came" is a dramedy based loosely on Marisa Coughlan's life.
"It's certainly inspired by the relationship with my dad, my experiences creatively as a creative person and as a mom," Coughlan said.
Coughlan plays Jane, a struggling actress with two kids who comes home to Minnesota to be with her ailing dad, played by Beau Bridges. In the process she reconnects with her high school sweetheart.
Coughlan says the film highlights the difficulties for women in mid-life.
"We're at a stage where you have little kids, but you also have parents that you're losing. And it's an awkward place to be, because you're kind of parenting your parents and parenting your kids," she said.
Coughlan, her husband and their family moved back to the west metro seven years ago.
"When we moved back I never really spent time in Excelsior before and we moved back and rented a house there. And the whole time I was like this looks like that set of a movie," she said.
They also shot in Wayzata and Columbia Heights. But there was one other must have for the movie -- Beau Bridges.
"He just reminded me so much of sort of not just my dad but kind of his my warmth and tenderness," Coughlan said. "I wrote him a letter and said, 'I really can't picture anyone else playing this. I really hope you respond to the role and to the material.' And i think he said yes the next day."
Bridges, who said that he thought the script was a "beautifully done piece of work," said he has some personal connections to Minnesota as well.
"My son-in-law and my daughter are both Gophers, and I just love all the water and the lakes, and this is a beautiful time of year. All the colors," Bridges said.
Both Bridges and Coughlan say it's the people of the Twin Cities and its suburbs who are going to make this movie special.
"One thing that I've just been overwhelmed by is the amount of support we've felt from our community. There's been so much outreach and positivity and so many people letting us shoot in their home or their businesses," Coughlan said.
Once they get the last scenes shot at the old Fairview Clinic in Columbia Heights, that's a wrap in Minnesota. The cast and crew hope to be back about a year from now for the world premiere in the Twin Cities.
"Days When The Rains Came" also stars Sam Trammel, Freddy Rodriguez and Lisa Gay Hamilton. Many of the film's crew members and extras are from the local film community.
