Then & Now: The Lake House From “What About Bob?”

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on JANUARY 30, 2011

The 1991 comedy What About Bob–starring Richard Dreyfuss as a psychiatrist whose vacation is interrupted by a patient named Bob (Bill Murray)–was pretty funny. But what most of us probably remember is his vacation house on Lake Winnipesaukee, right?

They used a real lake house at Smith Mountain Lake in Wirtz, Virginia, for filming–both the exterior and interior. It was on the market last year, so I thought it would be fun to compare how it looked in the movie 20 years ago to how it looks today.

In the movie, the house had lots of cheery green paint on the exterior trim and shutters.

Julie Hagerty played Dr. Leo Marvin’s wife Fay and mom to Anna and Siggy–even though in real life she was only 10 years older than the actress playing her daughter (Kathryn Erbe).

Dr. Leo’s family falls in love with Bob–they think he’s a lot of fun, even if he does leave a trail of chaos in his wake. Leo, however, resists his charms.

Dreyfuss and Murray reportedly didn’t get along well on set, which may have made it easier to act out a few of the scenes…

The puppets on the mantel are mini versions of each family member. When they’re having problems, Dr. Leo likes to use them to act out their issues, which the kids don’t really appreciate.

The kitchen may look outdated now, but I like it anyway–it looks like a cozy spot to hang out in with the fam:

The screened porch run across the entire back of the house and is where the family eats all of their meals overlooking the lake. In this scene, Bill Murray is wearing Bob’s famous “Don’t Hassle Me-I’m Local” t-shirt, which you can still buy online:

The Master Bedroom:

Spoiler Alert! If you don’t want to know how the movie ends, turn away now…

At the end of the movie, Bob accidentally blows the house up. Producers used a 3/4-sized model that they detonated on a nearby lot. No lake houses were actually harmed during the filming of this movie…

A reader tracked down the listing photos last year for me when I couldn’t find them. (Thanks, Shelley!) It had already sold, but I was excited to see what the house looks like today.

As you can see, the bushes in front of the house have grown a lot since the movie was made and are in serious need of a trim:

The house was on the market for $1.675 million, but I’m not sure what it actually sold for. The house now has black shutters and trim instead of green:

The living room is pretty cheery, with yellow walls and red accents:

The kitchen hasn’t changed much–same cabinets, same tile–but they have a table instead of an island:

One of my favorite features of the house is the screened porch overlooking the lake:

There’s a finished lower-level that we never see in the film:

The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 2 half baths, with a total of 2,880 square feet (which surprises me because it doesn’t look that big). This is the bedroom where their son Siggy slept:

And the Master Bedroom:

A view of the back of the house:

The listing even had the floorplans for the house:

The dock as it looks in the movie:

Someday I’d love to have a vacation house on a lake like this. Wish I had one to retreat to right now, as a matter of fact…minus the unwanted visitor, of course!

Click Here to see more Houses from the Movies, like the ones from Funny Farm and Dan in Real Life.

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Movie Monday: The Perfect World of Stepford, Connecticut

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

The 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives starred Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick as a couple that moves to the picture-perfect suburbs of Connecticut, only to discover that things may not be as idyllic as they first appear.

The problem with this version is that it’s not sure if it wants to be scary or funny, so it’s not enough of either. The houses that the Stepford families live in are pretty impressive, though, so let’s take a closer look!

“What we were after when creating the town of Stepford, Connecticut, was a sense of the modern suburb, the McMansion suburb,” screenwriter Paul Rudnick explains. He says that you could go to Connecticut today and find 80,000 square-foot homes inhabited by a husband, wife, and one child, and there is something “both seductive and obscene about that lifestyle.”

Production Designer Jack DeGovia agrees: “It’s a lifestyle that makes no apologies for being luxurious, and the metaphor for that world is the houses that people live in, which are much too big for their lives. It’s like a library with few books.”

Filming a scene in Joanna’s foyer (from the DVD Special Features):

The interior rooms for Joanna’s house were sets built in a warehouse in Yonkers. Director Frank Oz says, “Whenever you see actors being careful not to open an exterior door too wide, you know they’re probably on a set.”

When Joanna, Walter, and their kids first arrive at their new home, it’s empty:

“The look of Stepford is defined as New Money,” Director Frank Oz says. “Everything is spanking new, perfect.”

The next morning when Joanna comes downstairs, the whole place is magically furnished and decorated:

Joanna decides to give the Stepford way of life a shot by donning an apron and cranking out more cupcakes than you can shake a stick at:

The original 1975 movie was based on a novel by Ira Levin. Katharine Ross (The Graduate) played the role of Joanna, and the movie itself was a spooky thriller. Here’s how Joanna’s house looked in the original:

Inside the house in the 1975 version, things weren’t as shiny and new as the one in the remake:

It’s also interesting to compare the kitchens then and now. We expect a lot more from our kitchens these days. In one scene we see them washing their dishes by hand (gasp!):

Her friend Bobbie sits at the kitchen table (look how realistically cluttered the countertops and table are–something you just don’t see as much of in movies today):

Things are equally cluttered in the living room–the house wasn’t magically furnished and decorated overnight in the original version:

But I digress. Back to the remake, and the perfect house Nicole Kidman lived in:

We get a look inside the study when Joanna starts frantically Googling various Stepford wives to see who they were before moving to Connecticut (surprise–they were judges, attorneys, and other high-powered career women like her!).

John Cusack was originally cast in the role of Walter Eberhardt. When he dropped out, Matthew Broderick took over. John’s sister Joan was supposed to play the role of Bobbie, but she also pulled out and Bette Midler got the part.

Joanna and Walter’s Bedroom:

Oz says that the bedroom scenes were filmed in a real house somewhere in Connecticut:

The Stepford Men’s Association:

The Stepford Men’s Club was also a set. In one scene, Roger–played by Roger Bart, who you probably remember as Creepy George from Desperate Housewives–says, “I love this space. It’s very Ralph Lauren meets Sherlock Holmes. To me it says ‘I have taste and a scrotum.’”

I guess I should mention that if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want anything spoiled, you might want to stop reading now.

In the DVD commentary, Oz mentions that the Rotunda was a set used in the original “Stepford Wives,” too:

Joanna finds a painting of her family in the men’s club, picturing her as a smiling, blond Stepford wife (cue the “Twilight Zone” music!):

In the next scene, Joanna looks like the image in the painting. Frank Oz says he wanted it to look like she was “floating through the grocery store.” I like how they lined the egg cartons up.

Bobbie’s House:

Before Bobbie (played by Bette Midler in a shaggy, dishwater blond wig) is turned into a Stepford wife, her house is a wreck:

Frank Oz describes Bobbie as “the anti-Stepford wife.” So when Joanna stops by to visit Bobbie a few days later and finds everything looking pristine, she knows something is up:

The interiors of Bobbie’s house were created on a soundstage in Queens.

I won’t even pretend to understand the movie’s logic. Are the wives stuck with robotic bodies now even though their brains have been restored? How does that work? They clearly wanted to give the wives a happy ending, but it was all a little strange. The original film went out on a much darker note.

We get a glimpse of the back staircase when Bobbi’s boys come thundering down them:

The various house exteriors that are shown throughout the movie were photographed in the suburbs of Connecticut. I love the back of this house where the women meet for a tea party:

Glenn Close’s character Claire asks, at the end of the movie, “Where would people never notice a town full of robots? Connecticut!”

Frank Oz has given us some great “house movies” over the years that I’ve featured before, including Death at a Funeral and one of my all-time favorites, Housesitter. And unlike some other filmmakers, he is always good about giving us some lingering shots on the rooms and then talking about the sets in the DVD commentaries. Thanks, Frank!

Go to TV/Movie Houses to see more!

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