A House to Kill For in “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

After posting about the Father of the Bride house recently, several readers asked if it was the same house used in the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It is in Pasadena near the FOTB house and does look a lot like it, but it’s not the same one. Here’s the house used in Mr. & Mrs. Smith:

And the Father of the Bride house (interior photos here):

Hollywood loves these kinds of houses. It seems to be the Classic American House. In Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it worked really well to have John and Jane Smith (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) living in such a traditional home. It was an effective cover for who they really are: paid assassins.

When you step inside the traditional home, the interiors are a complete surprise–just like the characters who live in them.

The Two-Story Entry:

The Living Room:

Jane balances on the arms of a chair to adjust the new drapes:

The Dining Room:

A photo of them filming in the dining room (from the Special Features on the DVD):

The Kitchen:

Angelina’s character, Jane Smith, reminds me of Bree Hodge in “Desperate Housewives” (Marcia Cross). She’s a woman who is in complete control of her home, preparing gourmet meals that hit the table precisely at 7:00 each night. Meanwhile, her personal life is in a shambles. For one thing, her husband doesn’t know she’s in the same business he is, and the secrets have driven a wedge between them.

Angelina has a double oven in the kitchen. The lower one opens to reveal her stash of weaponry. How cool is that? Also cool: the tile on the wall around it.

The Master Bedroom:

The sets were designed by Victor Zolfo, who also worked on films like “The Case of Benjamin Button,” another Brad Pitt vehicle. He receives fan mail from all over the world from people who love the rooms he created for this movie. And I can understand why.

It’s hard to imagine this movie with any other combination of actors. Nicole Kidman and Johnny Depp were originally cast as Mr. and Mrs. Smith. When Depp backed out, Pitt was brought on board. When Kidman dropped out, Gwen Stefani and Catherine Zeta-Jones were reportedly considered for the role.

Another bit of trivia: Brad Pitt had to leave the Mr. & Mrs. Smith set for three months to film Oceans 12.

The Master Bath:

Upstairs Landing:

The Back of the House:

Destroying the House (look away now if you’re squeamish!):

I found the destruction scenes hard to watch. At the end of the movie, Angelina’s character tells their marriage counselor, “We redid the house together.”

I found some of these photos on the Internet, but none of the sites mentioned the original source. The exterior shot at the top of the post was taken by a fan who tracked it down in Pasadena and posted it here (I’ve been corrected–he’s the grandson of a neighbor, not a fan). The rest of the photos are ones I snapped while watching the movie. All rights to the images belong to 20th Century Fox, which distributed the film.

As we all know, “Mr. & Smith” led to a divorce (Brad and Jen’s) and the creation of Brangelina (Brad and Angelina). Five years later, the couple has six children, including the twins Knox and Vivienne shown here in a People spread about them.

To read more about the Super Couple, check out the French Chateau they stayed in last summer and their $60 million rental on Long Island.

Visit my TV/Movie Houses page for links to all of the others I’ve featured, from  “You’ve Got Mail” to “Something’s Gotta Give.”

Tagged as: " set design, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, California, entertainment, Father of the Bride, film, movie houses, movies, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Pasadena, Victor Zolfo