Naman Shrestha
Directed by Katie Aselton, ‘Mack & Rita’ is a comedy-drama movie that revolves around Mack Martin, a 30-year-old recluse who reluctantly joins a bachelorette trip for her best friend, Carla. However, instead of going to the event, she makes her way into a strange tent that she finds and indulges in past life regression, only to wake up as the 70-year-old version of herself named Aunt Rita. As she gets used to her body and its consequences, she starts going viral on the internet and becomes a social media sensation.
Alongside, Rita gets romantically involved with Mack’s dog sitter, Jack. The comedy movie features some hilarious performances from a talented cast, including Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Lail, Taylour Paige, Dustin Milligan, and Simon Rex. While the hilarious narrative tickles your funny bones, the interesting use of different locations makes your mind wonder about the actual filming sites of ‘Mack & Rita.’ Well, in that case, allow us to put your mind at ease with all the details about the same!
Mack & Rita Filming Locations
‘Mack & Rita’ was filmed entirely in California, particularly in Greater Los Angeles. The principal photography for the comedy movie commenced in March 2021 and wrapped up in April of the same year in just a month or so. During production, the makers had to make several changes to the script, including getting rid of a Coachella scene and not doing chemistry tests between actors before filming due to the limited budget and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Now, without further ado, let’s follow Mack & Rita in their transformational journey and traverse all the specific locations that appear in the movie!
Greater Los Angeles, California
All the pivotal sequences for ‘Mack & Rita’ were taped across Greater Los Angeles, the second largest metropolitan region in the United States. It encompasses five counties: Ventura County, San Bernandino County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, and Orange County. The property at 691 Mill Street in Los Angeles stands as Mack’s loft in the movie, whereas the Paris Pilates scenes were recorded on the property at 3110 Sunset Boulevard.
Many exterior and aerial shots were also lensed in the City of Angels, including around North Atwater Bridge at 3919 Rigali Avenue, 110 from the 4th Street bridge in Downtown Los Angeles, and 200 North Alvarado Street. Furthermore, Ocean Park at Beach, situated at 25 Ocean Park Boulevard in Santa Monica, served as a prominent production location for the Diane Keaton-starrer.
In April 2021, the cast and crew were reportedly spotted in and around The Commons at Calabasas at 4799 Commons Way, Calabasas, shooting night scenes. Apart from filming aerial shots in Palm Springs, an important scene was taped at 550 North Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs; the movie is originally set in the desert resort city. In an August 2022 interview with LA Confidential, director Katie Aselton was asked if the sunny settings of Los Angeles and Palm Springs helped capture the vibrance that is so significant in the movie.
The filmmaker answered, “We shot so much on the Eastside and downtown in Los Angeles, and it’s so bright and vivid and colorful. There really is so much of a visual aspect to this story of a girl who is afraid to take any chances, and so she’s living a very safe, bland life, and then as she starts becoming more comfortable in her own skin, you see more color and more texture and more vibrancy. And it was really fun to lean into that, and Los Angeles definitely supports that.”
Read More: Is Mack & Rita Based on a True Story?
