The “Rumor Has It” House

Out of the blue last week, fellow stalker Owen and I became a bit obsessed with finding the white clapboard colonial style home used in the 2005 Jen Aniston movie Rumor Has It.  For some extremely odd reason, neither Owen (who is also a HUGE JA fan) nor I had ever tried to locate the house before.  I didn'”‘”‘t especially love the movie, though, in spite of the fact that it starred my girl Jen, so that'”‘”‘s probably why I never sought it out.  But, last week, when Owen mentioned the movie to me, we both got the exact same thought in our head at the exact same time – “We have GOT to find that house!”  LOL  And find it, we did!  Well, he did, actually!

Even though the movie supposedly takes places in Pasadena and even though the house looks like a very typical Pasadena area home – there'”‘”‘s a white clapboard colonial on practically every corner here – I was convinced that, in typical Hollywood fashion, the house would most likely be located elsewhere.  Because Pasadena stands in for pretty much every city in pretty much every state in pretty much every movie LOL, it seemed only fitting that when a production called for a Pasadena area home, the location scouts would find it in a city other than Pasadena. LOL

So, imagine my surprise when Owen texted me to let me know that he had found the house exactly where the movie said it would be.   While searching the IMDB Rumor Has It message boards he found a thread entitled “White Colonial In Pasadena Used As Movie Set” where a man had written the following entry: “It was quite a shock seeing Rumor Has it while flying back to Boston.  I suddenly recognized the home my grandfather built in Pasadena at 717 South Hudson Avenue in 1920 and that I lived in briefly in 1946-47 while my father built a new home near the Annandale golf course. Not often that one sees one'”‘”‘s childhood home used as a movie set — and sees Shirley MacLaine walking out the front door or Kevin Costner arriving.”   So, Owen googled the address and, sure enough, it was the house!!    THANK YOU, IMDB!

So, of course, as soon as I had the address, I immediately ran right out to stalk the house!  🙂   Surprisingly enough, I had actually parked RIGHT in front of the Rumor Has It house just two weeks prior while stalking the Dickie Roberts house, which is ironically located just two doors down!!!!    I felt like such an airhead for not recognizing the house at the time, but, in my defense, it actually looks quite different in person than it did in the movie. The paint color has been changed from white and forest green to more muted tones and, sadly, the house just isn'”‘”‘t as charming in person as it was in Rumor Has It.  Don'”‘”‘t get me wrong, the house is cute, it'”‘”‘s just not AS cute as it was in the movie.  But there was also something else that looked quite different to me that I just couldn'”‘”‘t put my finger on – until I got home.

In person, the house seemed much smaller than it did in Rumor Has It and I couldn'”‘”‘t figure out why until I was able to compare screen captures from the movie to the photographs I had just taken.  As you can see in the above screen capture, producers actually put large hedges over the real driveway of the home and extended the curb and grass area on the sidewalk in front of the driveway, making the front yard appear much larger than it actually is.

In the scene when Jen Aniston'”‘”‘s father pulls up to the house, he actually parks in the real life home'”‘”‘s neighboring driveway (pictured above)!  LOL  Why go to all of that trouble just to give the illusion that the house is larger than it actually is?  Why not just film at a bigger house?  As I mentioned above there are houses similar to this one on practically every Pasadena street corner.   LOL  Ah, the magic of Hollywood!

But even though the house looked quite different in person than it did in the movie, I was still absolutely floored to be stalking it!  It was soooo exciting to think that my girl Jen – and Shirley MacLaine and Kevin Costner –  had once stood on the very same sidewalk that I was now standing on.  🙂  LOVE IT!

Had to do it!  🙂

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Rumor Has It house is located at 717 South Hudson Avenue in Pasadena, just two houses down from the home used in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.

‘