Eddie Murphy Rules Over Rick Ross’ Atlanta-Area Mansion in ‘Coming 2 America’

Set far off the road at the end of a winding tree-lined driveway, the lavish digs are chock full of countless upscale amenities befitting a boxing great – not to mention the fictitious royal family of Zamunda. Designed by PFVS Architects, the mansion houses a 135-seat movie theatre, a dining room with a 100-person capacity and both an indoor and outdoor pool (the latter holds an incredible 350,000 gallons of water!). The largest single-family residence in all of Georgia, The New York Times states, “Immense and opulent, the home seems fit for a king.”

Surrounded by a colossal 105 acres, outdoor features include a pond, a horse barn and a 4,000-square-foot guest house. There are also plenty of sports-related amenities to be found on the premises, such as a softball field, handball and tennis courts, a bowling alley and a boxing gym (obvs).

With greatness comes great responsibility, though. And with a hefty mansion comes hefty operating costs, which Holyfield soon discovered. According to The Times, the boxer shelled out $1 million a year to run the place. His Christmas lights alone ran him a whopping $16,000 annually! A man after Clark W. Griswold’s own heart!

The massive upkeep costs, as well as several other financial pitfalls, proved too great for Evander and he wound up losing the property to foreclosure in July 2012. It was subsequently purchased by rapper Rick Ross for $5.8 million in 2014.

Ross seems to have quite a good gig going when it comes to filming on the premises, charging production companies up to $2.75 million for shoots! And location managers have to pay to even scout the property! Ross stated on Instagram, “It’s not free to come check out the estate. Twenty people are wanting to see it a day, every day. So what we do is charge people to come look at it and there’s still 18 people that want to come a day.”

As it turns out, “Coming to America” is Ross’ favorite comedy, so having the sequel film at his house was more than just a financial boon. The movie made extensive use of the mansion, utilizing seven rooms on the premises including a second-floor bedroom (above), which production designer Jefferson Sage and set decorator Doug Mowat dressed considerably to portray Akeem and Lisa’s royal suite, outfitting the space with regal curtains, foliage, screens and an elevated canopy bed.

The mansion’s elongated dining room played itself onscreen, hosting an awkward family dinner upon Lavelle’s arrival in Zamunda. It, too, was outfitted with regal set dressing, including a humongous table that, according to Variety, Ross got to keep post-production. Leaf-patterned drapes and landscape murals also decorated the room.

Foliage figured greatly into Sage’s visual concept of the movie. He says, “So much of the story was written as happening inside the palace that I became worried about how we were going to miss that wonderful sense of the lush tropical Africa that identifies Zamunda. I hit on the idea of bringing the outside into the palace whenever possible, and making the outdoors a constant visual element.” This is especially true of the dining room, where Sage explains he and his team “created a mural of African plants and jungle, interspersed with birds and exotic creatures, that encircled the room as wallpaper, wrapping the action there in an artist’s vision of the African jungle.” Apparently, Ross was a big fan of the piece and left it intact after filming wrapped.

Fresh flowers also heavily played into the visual aesthetic. Sage explains, “The same idea is carried into the myriad fresh flowers that dressed virtually every palace interior. From the opening, where the rose petal girls spread petals at the feet of the royal family, fresh and exotic flowers are a visual theme. Our rule was that ALL the flowers in the palace would be changed every day. So, anytime we went back to a set in the story, we needed all new flowers on display.”

Local Atlanta florist Robert Long was tasked with outfitting the set with the myriad blossoms, even going so far as to ship exotic flowers in from all over the world. As Sage says, “In this palace, money is no object, and the flowers needed to reflect that. And, yes – it was quite expensive. But it made such a difference!” The incredible blooms certainly do make an impact!

Other palace spaces that can be found at the Ross mansion include Lavelle’s bedroom (above), the royal study, and King Jaffe Joffer’s (James Earl Jones) suite.

The mansion’s entrance foyer was also utilized in “Coming 2 America” but it did not portray itself. Instead, it merely served as the central stairwell of the Joffer residence, where members of the family often congregated.

The space that actually served as the palace’s cavernous entrance/art gallery was a set constructed inside of a soundstage at Areu Bros. Studios in Atlanta, where many of the movie’s interiors and most of the Queens, New York segments were lensed. (The production also made use of stages at Tyler Perry Studios.) Sage incorporated the gold-leaf boiserie that can be found throughout the Ross estate into the set design to make the transition from the mansion’s real rooms to the fabricated ones more seamless.

The palace ballroom, where many scenes took place including the elaborate wedding and funeral segments, was a studio set, as well.

As was the Throne Room. To decorate that space, Sage and his team employed grand pieces of art, also inspired by the Zamundan landscape.

Of the towering pieces, he says, “Here the murals are scaled way up, so that the animals almost feel life size.”

One opulent spot that wasn’t a set build? The indoor hot tub where Lavell’s mom, Mary Junson (Leslie Jones), takes a dip her first morning at the palace. That space is a real element of the Ross mansion!

The property’s outdoor pool – said to be the biggest in all of Georgia – also makes a brief cameo in the film, though the scenery visible beyond it was all CGI.

The palace featured in the movie’s opening, though? That doesn’t exist in real life. It was strictly a CGI creation. In fact, aside from the brief image of the pool and a couple of other tight shots lensed outside the Ross mansion, all palace exteriors that appear in “Coming 2 America” were digital fabrications!

Even the extensive façade featured in the scene in which General Izzi (Wesley Snipes) and his troops storm the palace was entirely CGI! In reality, filming of that segment took place in a parking lot at Atlanta’s Yaarab Shrine Center (400 Ponce De Leon Ave. NE) and the background was added later in post-production. Movie magic at its finest! (Yaarab Shrine Center also masked as Nexdooria in the film.) 

Coincidentally, the Ross mansion appeared in another production involving an arranged marriage with a prince. In the season four episode of “Drop Dead Diva” titled “Happily Ever After,” which aired in 2012, it played the Los Angeles Bhutanese consulate where Jane Bingum (Brooke Elliott) represents Leela Penjore (Nishi Munshi) in her quest to get out of marrying Prince Kencho (Danny Boushebel).

The Ross mansion also popped up as the home base for the Snow Patrol gang in the 2018 action film “Superfly.”