Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
No matter what the Golden Globes may think, Minari is a distinctly American tale that takes place smack-dab in the center of the American heartland.
Written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, Minari stars Steven Yeun as an ambitious South Korean immigrant named Jacob Yi who moves his family from the city life in San Francisco to the middle-of-nowhere in Arkansas, to pursue his dream of running his own farm. The film is based on Chung’s own experience growing up as a South Korean immigrant in Arkansas, and so the director was determined to capture that authentic Ozark farmland experience by filming on location.
Read on to learn more about the Minari filming location.
Where was Minari filmed?
Minari filmed during the summer of 2019 just outside Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is west of Arkansas. While it was not technically in Arkansas, where the story takes place, the production was still very much immersed in the Ozark landscape. Chung filmed on a working farm kept up by immigrant Hmong workers who, Chung said in the film’s press notes, “reminded me of the direct connection between immigrant families then and now.”
The cast and crew moved into an actual trailer while on location, just like David and his family. Production designer Yong Ok Lee transformed a classic mobile home into something out of the ’80s. In the press notes, producer Christina Oh said of the trailer, “I instantly recognized the carpeting and drapes, even the water basins were spot on. It was just incredible. It felt like my own family to me.”
And, by the way, the fire in the barn was real, rather than VFX. “There’s always one scene everybody stresses over on a production, and for us, it was the fire,” cinematographer Lachlan Milne said in an interview for the film’s press notes. “There was the realization we would have one crack at getting it right. We did all the prep we could, but you can’t ever really know how high the flames will be or how long it’ll burn. I shot it all handheld, relying on the residual glow to light the scene as much as possible. Then we came back first thing the next day to shoot around the smoldering ashes. It’s one of those scenes where you all feel you pulled something off, against all the odds.”
So there you have it! Minari captured the authentic feel of the Ozark farmlands by actually being there, even if it didn’t film in Arkansas.
