The 2006 comedy You, Me and Dupree stars Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson as newlyweds who return home from their wedding in Hawaii to their beautiful blue Craftsman bungalow…and an unwanted houseguest. Owen Wilson plays Dillon’s wacky childhood friend Dupree who needs a place to crash. Add to the mix Dillon’s manipulative new father-in-law (Michael Douglas), and comedic chaos ensues.
According to the IMDb website, “The interior shots of Molly and Carl’s house are filmed on the set of Hope and Michael Steadman’s house from “thirtysomething” (1987). The exterior is the house used at the end of 13 Going on 30 (2004), where it is pink.”
I’m not sure I believe it, though. Here’s the 13 Going on 30 house:
The roof lines and windows just don’t match up, so unless they did some extensive remodeling work on the house, they seem to be different. The interior floor plan is different than the house on “thirtysomething,” too, but since they were sets on a soundstage, they could have been reworked for You, Me and Dupree.
UPDATE: Lindsay of Iamnotastalker tracked down the You, Me and Dupree house in the historic West Adams district of L.A. and reports that it is definitely not the same house as the one in 13 Going on 30. You can see her post about it here and about the 13 Going on 30 house (which is no longer pink) here. Thanks, Lindsay!
When Carl and Molly arrive home from their honeymoon, there are piles of gifts in their living room:
“We tried to make Carl and Molly’s world sort of warm and accessible and you’ll see that in the choice of their house,” say Directors Joe and Anthony Russo. “It’s an older home, modest in scale, and the neighborhood feels like it’s been there awhile.”
That moose head that Dupree brings with him when he moves in was actually a deer head “repurposed” to look like a moose. A moose head would have been too big for him to carry around. You can see it propped in the corner below the stairs:
The front of the house has two “living rooms” with fireplaces that face each other from opposite walls. Here’s the one to the left of the front door:
And here’s the fireplace to the right of the front door:
Love those windows, and the tile on the fireplace:
In the commentary, the filmmakers mention that they shot this view of the street from inside the real house because they wanted to capture the look you can only get through old glass:
The actual house had a totally different floor plan than the set’s version, however.
After Dupree sets the living room on fire, we get a look at it while it’s empty:
After they get new furniture, it looks like this:
They wanted Carl and Molly’s house to look believable as a first home for a young couple, but it also had to reflect the fact that Molly had grown up wealthy and was used to living a life of luxury where everything was well decorated and put together.
The movie featured actors Seth Rogen and Bill Hader in small roles as two of Carl’s buddies. I had forgotten they were in this. In 2006 they were both still fairly unknown. Rogen would star in “Knocked Up” in ’07, and at the time of filming, Hader was in his first year on SNL.
The dining room has a window seat:
The Kitchen:
In this shot you can see the checkerboard floor:
The Bedroom:
I’m not sure about the odd window treatment over the bed:
The woodwork and built-ins in this room are beautiful.
In one of the deleted scenes on the DVD we get a look at the upstairs landing that isn’t seen in the movie:
Owen Wilson says he based the character of Dupree on a dog he used to have. And that explains a lot, doesn’t it?
Craftsman-style houses like this are so popular in the movies. Makes me wonder why more builders aren’t taking note and trying to recreate some of the classic home styles that may be small on square footage but are big on charm and character. I’d take one of these over a sprawling McMansion with soaring ceilings any day.
Visit TV/Movie Houses to See More Craftsmans in the Movies, fromMonster-in-Law to Must Love Dogs!
