Walking through the Huff-Doback household is like visiting any upper-middle class suburban home. The only difference is this two-story dwelling was built on a Sony soundstage in Culver City!
The Step Brothers‘ home belongs to Robert and his son Dale Doback who are later joined by Robert’s new wife Nancy Huff and her son Brennan. It sounds like any other blended family, but there’s a catch; Dale and Brennan are 40-year-old men who never left the nest.
Making our way around the set, we toured the house, chatted with wardrobe designer Susan Matheson and even listened in on a scene with stars Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen. Here’s your sneak peek at the movie opening in theaters July 25.
The Scene:
Sitting on the set we could see Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) vegging on the couch in sweats and t-shirts watching Air Jaws. Every time the great white shark leaps from the water to attack its prey they scream things like “shark bait!” While Brennan is holding an ice pack to his head, Dale’s is wrapped in an ace bandage. When their dad Robert (Jenkins) walks in followed by mom Nancy (Steenburgen), they’re in trouble. According to the kids, Brennan touched Dale’s drum set.
When the boys find out they can’t watch TV for a week they want to know parameters, asking can we “go online, watch Youtube, listen to music, watch lame TV like the Food Network, or play X-Box.” Dad finally relents when they ask if they can watch the TV Guide channel to read descriptions of the shows they’re grounded from.
Meanwhile in an improv scene mom sneaks back in offering them both money to go to the movies.
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The Wardrobe:
Jumping on the costume truck, we got the grand tour from designer Susan Matheson who also dressed the guys in Talladega Nights. Starting with the concept of “two very troubled 40-years-olds that basically act like juveniles” she came up with a softer look for Will and an edgier yet outdated look for John. Remember Will’s Crystal Gayle t-shirt from Talladega? Well get ready, because Matheson’s outdone herself with a vintage Judds t-shirt with “Why Not Me?” printed on the back! Topping off his country attire (expect to see a Kenny Rogers top too), Will’s character also loves destination t-shirts and animal silk screens.
John’s wardrobe includes a touch of mesh and t-shirts like Kawasaki, Magic Mountain and Yoda. “All of John’s clothes are much brighter than Will’s and he tends to match,” Matheson explains. “So his shoes will match his belt and his belt will match his shirt and they’re all very kind of primary and bright.”
Even zanier is the low-budget music video the boys shoot, which Matheson gave a “Miami Vice meets George Michael” theme. “They don’t have any money so they borrow clothes again,” she says. “They wear their mother’s jewelry, so you see this owl here. The idea was if they were going to wear bling they had to have borrowed it from their mother’s closet. So they’re both wearing kind of female gold jewelry but they don’t think there’s anything weird about that.”
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The Set:
Brennan and Dale share a room on the top floor of the make-shift house adorned with posters like Metallica, Space Hunters 3-D, train blueprints and Joan Jett. Their closet is filled with board games like Life (how fitting) and the bathroom includes a Vivid poster of half naked chicks and a penguin shower curtain. They also share a tree house outside where some might speculate they read Playboy.
We also toured the “Beat Laboratory,” Dale’s drum room. Along with a drum set and tiger poster, half the wall is painted dark blue after a half-hearted attempt to lose the greenish gray color on the rest of the walls.
The set designer was sure to place family portraits around the house, including wedding photos!
