A movie set in its entirety at a memorial service might sound morbid and depressing, but 2010’s “Death at a Funeral” is actually anything but! In fact, the Screen Gems/Sony Pictures comedy (which is currently streaming on Netflix) is laugh-out-loud hilarious from start to finish! Considering its ensemble cast of comedic greats, which includes Chris Rock, Danny Glover, Kevin Hart, Martin Lawrence and Tracy Morgan, the movie’s jocular core seems almost inherent. As famed film critic Roger Ebert opined, “Death at a Funeral” is “the best comedy since ‘The Hangover.’”
The Neil LaBute-directed laugh-fest centers around the memorial of Edward Barnes (Bob Minor), the patriarch of a large group of quarrelsome characters, all of whom gather at the deceased’s former home to say their goodbyes. The ceremony quickly unravels through a series of unfortunate (but, of course, humorous) events, with eldest son, Aaron (Rock), attempting to hold things together to absolutely no avail. Featuring a mix of highbrow and lowbrow moments (including a bathroom scene in which Glover’s cranky Uncle Russell character experiences stomach trouble after a few bites of potato salad), as Ebert notes, “A lot of ‘Death at a Funeral’ is in very bad taste. That’s when I laughed the most.” Same, Roger, same! As inappropriate as it may seem, I dare you not to howl when mourner Oscar (James Marsden), who has inadvertently downed some heavy-duty hallucinogenic drugs prior to the service, knocks over Edward’s coffin, causing his corpse to roll out onto the floor to the horror of all in attendance.
Based upon the 2007 Frank Oz-directed British comedy of the same name, which is set at an idyllic estate in the English countryside, the remake instead takes place in Southern California. To facilitate the shift in locales and distinguish the movie from its predecessor, LaBute sought a home with a distinct Sunshine State appeal to serve as the main backdrop. As such, a Craftsman residence became his obvious choice. Not only is the architectural genre one of the mainstays of the SoCal landscape but the style’s characteristically dark nature authentically lends itself to a funeral setting.
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Image Credit: Sony Pictures -
Image Credit: James McClain Producers wound up finding the perfect spot to portray the Barnes family homestead on a leafy, sleepy block chock full of stately residences in South Pasadena. Located at 917 Buena Vista St., the massive shingled pad is situated just due west of the oft-filmed Torrance-Childs House, which is best known for playing the Staten Island home of Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak) and his fellow vampires on the television series “What We Do in the Shadows.” (Please remember these are private homes. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the properties in any way.)
In real life, the handsome two-story estate is known as the Albert Sherman Hoyt House, or the A. S. Hoyt House, in honor of one of its early owners, a New York surgeon who moved to the area with his wife, Minerva, in the late 1890s. Originally constructed in 1901, the dwelling features eight bedrooms and four baths spread throughout a spacious 4,981 square feet. Situated on an expansive 0.68-acre lot, the surrounding grounds boast mature Eucalyptus trees, a pool and large front and rear lawns. Per Ownerly, the pad has not changed hands since 2012, so MLS images are unfortunately nil.
Despite its considerable size and seeming architectural significance, shockingly little has been written about the residence or its history outside of the fact that it was built on land where the 1877 adobe home of Benjamin Smith Eaton formerly stood. Considered by many to be the “Father of Pasadena” thanks to his role as “mastermind behind the first iron-pipe pressure system that brought water to the arid Pasadena area in 1874,” the Los Angeles Times notes that Eaton was also a “brilliant engineer,” as well as “a journalist, a Harvard-educated lawyer, the Los Angeles County district attorney, a judge and a pioneer of drought-tolerant agriculture.”
The property also has the distinction of being the longtime former home of Lila Cox, who served as the mayor of South Pasadena from 1966 through 1968.
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Image Credit: Sony Pictures -
Image Credit: James McClain Filming of “Death at a Funeral” actually kicked off at the South Pasadena estate, with cast and crew descending upon the home for the entire first week of the production’s seven-week shoot.
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Image Credit: Sony Pictures The front of the residence, as well as the backyard, pool, gazebo and sun porch, were all used prominently in the film. Only exteriors were lensed on the premises, though.
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Image Credit: Sony Pictures Interiors were shot at an elaborate set created by production designer Jon Gary Steele (of “Outlander,” “The Glass House” and “Burlesque” fame), who modified a permanent set at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City for the shoot. Spanning two stories and centered by a grand staircase and large landing overlooking a living area below, the space, which “Death at a Funeral” executive producer Glenn S. Gainor describes as a “superstructure” in a behind-the-scenes featurette included on the movie’s DVD, has been altered and reimagined for use in multiple productions, including the 2009 thriller “Obsessed,” on which Steele also worked as a production designer.
He changed things up quite a bit for “Death at a Funeral,” though, adding a plethora of rich patterned wallpapers, dark woods and stained glass to heighten the faux backdrop’s Craftsman look.
The completed design is considerably different from the South Pasadena house’s actual interior, which can be seen here. Most notably, the set was made much larger than its real-life counterpart to accommodate the movie’s huge ensemble cast and allow for camera movement and movement of the actors, which helped forward the story along and underscored the comedy. As Ebert stated in his review, “LaBute juggles parallel actions in the big family home, so we understand who’s in the bathroom and who’s in the living room and why everybody is out on the lawn. There’s a smooth logic to it that works like spatial punchlines.”
So much was filmed against the backdrop that in the movie’s DVD commentary, LaBute notes, “I’ve never spent so much time working in a studio set. I felt like we were doing a television show, you know, like we were doing something on the same family set week after week.” He relished the ease filming in such a controlled environment allowed, praising the ability to shoot long after the sun set and not having to worry about ambient sound, to which Chris Rock chimed in that “just the ability to move walls” was a plus. Spending so much time in such gorgeous surroundings was an obvious boon for the cast and crew, too.