DULUTH — Plenty of biopics cast actors who are better-looking than their real-life counterparts, and that, in a sense, is what happened with northern Minnesota and "Dead of Winter."

According to star Emma Thompson, exteriors for the Minnesota-set movie were filmed in Finland because climate change had robbed our own state of the necessary white stuff. She's not wrong: The movie was filmed in early 2024, as the Northland was experiencing a historic lack of snow.

While our own ski hills were struggling to stay open, Finland was looking absolutely majestic. Northlanders can take it as a compliment that director Brian Kirk bet the country's stunning heights and vast lakes would be convincing onscreen as somewhere north of Bemidji.

Thompson and her costars enthusiastically aid the chara

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