How They Made It: The Pastel Suburbs of ‘Edward Scissorhands’⁠↗

To determine the color scheme of the homes, Duffield remembers using Necco wafers as a reference point, adapting the candy’s pastel yellows, pinks, and blues to act as his base. “We wanted to make a statement in color, but not so strong that it took you out of the movie,” Duffield says, “[like] if Leningrad tried to copy an American suburban housing development.”

Without the internet, and disinclined to make dozens of expensive cell phone calls each day, Burmeister spent the length of the shoot producing a one-sheet newspaper⁠—The Tinsmith Times⁠—that informed residents where to park their cars and when production would film each day. “I was basically the mayor of Tinsmith Circle,” he says. He and Maharis spent mornings cycling around the neighborhood, dropping off daily schedules and notifying Duffield about neighbor concerns, like paint marks on windows. “People came and went, rode bicycles, walked their dog, watched us film. It was as if they were renting our houses in a back lot,” he says. “It was almost like a Twilight Zone episode.”