Naman Shrestha
A satirical take on the 1996 animated musical movie ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ Hulu’s ‘Quasi’ is a period comedy-drama movie brought to you by the Broken Lizard — Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. It follows an unlucky hunchback who only yearns for some love in his life. His already complicated life is made more difficult when he gets caught up amidst a deadly feud between the Pope and the King of France. So, when the Pope and the King each ask the unfortunate misfit to kill the other, the hunchback finds himself in a pickle he can’t escape.
Directed by one of the members of the Broken Lizard, Kevin Heffernan, the comedy movie features hilarious performances from talented actors, including Adrianne Palicki, Jay Chandrasekhar, Gabriel Hogan, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, and Erik Stolhanske. Set in the 13th century, almost all the action unfolds in and around a French castle atop a mountain, including various interior and exterior settings. So, it is understandable why you might be curious about the filming sites of ‘Quasi.’ In that case, let’s explore more of the same!
Quasi: Where Was it Filmed?
‘Quasi’ was filmed in California, especially in Los Angeles County. As per reports, the principal photography for the Adrianne Palicki starrer commenced in early November 2021 and wrapped up in April 2022. Now, without wasting time, let us walk you through all the specific locations that can be spotted in the Hulu movie!
Los Angeles County, California
Most of ‘Quasi’ was lensed in Los Angeles County, with the production team primarily setting up camp at one of the many film studios in the county. After all, LA County is home to the film studios of all five major production companies, including Warner Bros., Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Sony Pictures. Furthermore, the Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles’ central region served as one of the key shooting locations for the movie. On top of it, the filming unit recorded several pivotal scenes in Santa Clarita, a city north of Los Angeles.
In an April 2023 interview with Movie Web, the Broken Lizard was asked about the best and worst day they experienced while shooting ‘Quasi.’ Erik Stolhanske replied, “The worst day was acting against Paul as the Pope (laughs). He was always drilling down on me.” To which Paul Soter added, “Look, having a fart catcher is a fantastic thing. The day when I was in the full Pope garb and regalia, being led in by a carriage with a team of horses, I thought it was ridiculous that I get to do this. I could have lived that day over and over.” To conclude, Erik said, “Character-wise, your best day was my worst day. That’s a lot like our life (laughs).”
Since eating oysters is considered a thing of the kings, many sequences are related to it in the period movie. Regarding that, director and star Kevin Heffernan shared an interesting story about filming the oyster-eating scenes for the movie in a video interview with Mama’s Geeky in April 2023. He explained, “We wanted to shoot our oyster scenes, and we got a letter from the A.S.P.C.A. (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) warning us that we couldn’t do it because no animals are supposed to be harmed in the making of the movie. They consider oysters live animals, and we were killing the live animals (by eating them).”
Thus, Broken Lizard learned that there were some things they could or couldn’t do regarding the oyster scenes. For instance, they were not allowed to shuck an oyster on camera and eat it. Kevin continued, “So there were only two options. There was, you had to have a pre-shucked oyster that was dead, which creates some bacterial problems. And then, what we also did, was create fake oysters out of mushrooms.”
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