Considering the world at large has been on lockdown for more than a year now, a day of indulgence in which every wish is granted and every whim entertained sounds like an ideal respite. So it is no surprise that Netflix’s new movie “Yes Day,” which dropped last Friday, is resonating with audiences. The family comedy tells the story of protective parent Allison Torres (Jennifer Garner), who, faced with the realization that she has become something of a dictator in her household while her husband, Carlos (Édgar Ramírez), gets to be the fun dad, decides to allocate one day in which neither parent can say no to their three children’s requests.
Directed by Miguel Arteta, the film is based upon the 2009 children’s book of the same name written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Garner discovered the story in 2013 and has been hosting Yes Days for her children ever since. She told ABC 10, “It started with things that are so simple. In a parked car, can I put my head out of the sunroof, can I get junk food or a lottery ticket, can we stay up late? Things like that.” Then, in 2017, the actress posted an image of herself the morning following one such annual event during which her family slept in a tent in the backyard, with the caption, “You’ll never need coffee more than the day after Yes Day.” A producer friend saw the photo and a movie idea began to take shape. Four years later, the film is sweeping Netflix.
Shot from late 2019 through early 2020, the production wound up being a sort of Yes Day for the cast and crew. As Arteta, who called the movie “the most fun shoot I’ve ever been part of,” told ABC 10, “We ate ice cream for two days straight, you know. We went on a roller coaster for two days. We did a water balloon fight for five days. We threw more than 30,000 balloons. It was total pandemonium.”
The locations played into the pandemonium, as well. The shoot took cast and crew from Castaic to Malibu to Santa Clarita to Pasadena – and that’s just for the first minute and 40 seconds of screen time alone!
Read on for a complete guide to all of the spots featured in the movie.