Hopkins Elks Member Sees Herself on the Big Screen

Candyce Ferrentino is a star.

Not a star like Greg Kinnear is a movie star, but a movie star in the sense that she can say she was in a movie with Kinnear—as an extra.

The longtime Hopkins resident and member of the Hopkins Elks, who now lives in Chanhassen, spent hours on the set of Thin Ice in November 2009 for what would end up being two bit parts in the feature film.

Thin Ice, formerly called , is the story of a salesman's search for a rare musical instrument. It stars Kinnear and Alan Arkin. Kinnear’s character, an insurance agent, is trying to finagle the violin from a farmer played by Arkin.

Parts of it were filmed in Hopkins. Ferrentino recognized several Hopkins landmarks: , the Post Office, an apartment building and the inside of . The movie appeared for the first time in Minnesota Oct. 12 at the Walker Art Center. Ferrentino was in the theater at the premiere and got to see herself on the big screen.

Her scenes were actually at the Thunderbird Hotel near the Mall of America. In the first, she’s walking behind a desk in the lobby. She was supposed to be wearing heels during the scene, but they kept clicking and interrupting the sound. Crewmembers first taped furniture pads to her heels and eventually had her walk on the balls of her feet when that didn’t work.

“(Crewmembers) were all applauding me and what have you,” she said.

The next scene that made it in the movie was a dance scene. Ferrentino spent two-and-a-half hours with about a dozen people on the dance floor holding beer bottles filled with water. The catch? There wasn’t actually music playing.

In the beginning, some people were dancing slow while others danced fast. Crewmembers told them to agree on a song they could imagine playing in their heads. They settled on Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.”

The day was a long one—starting at about 3:30 p.m. and continuing past midnight. For Ferrentino it was worth it: “It was just a wonderful adventure.”

But Ferrentino also enjoyed the movie on its own merits. A large part of the movie’s tone is based on Midwestern values—but it’s respectful and not clichéd, she said, adding that it’s a movie “bankers and lawyers and corporate America” should see.

“It was absolutely perfect to Minnesota values,” she said. “It left me feeling challenged by the end. It left me feeling not wanting to judge people.”