Coastal Elites premieres on HBO today. The comic satire, which was written by playwright Paul Rudnick and directed by Jay Roach, features a series of monologues from five characters about their lives during quarantine in a deeply divided political climate. It stars Bette Midler, Kaitlyn Dever, Sarah Paulson, Issa Rae, and Dan Levy.
Not only is the majority of this HBO special presentation set during COVID-19, but it was also filmed in entirety during the pandemic. A rep for HBO recently told Refinery29, "Production took place in the actors' homes in Los Angeles and New York under minimal crew supervision — eight people maximum." The small crew and in-home locations met the production's COVID-19 protocols, which the rep says were approved by a COVID-19 manager.
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As you tune in to Coastal Elites, you'll be getting glimpses into the actual homes of some of Hollywood's biggest stars — an unexpected bright side to production restrictions caused by the pandemic. Ahead, more details about the homes you'll be peeking into while watching this HBO special presentation.
Issa Rae
In Coastal Elites, Issa Rae plays
Callie Josephson, a philanthropist who went to school with Ivanka Trump. Fans of Rae's hit show Insecure know that the writer and actor is used to playing characters that live in her L.A. neighborhood of Inglewood, but this is the first time she's playing a character that lives in her actual house. Clips from the HBO's new comic satire show Rae acting as Josephson in the same living room that was shot for Architectural Digest in December 2019.
Rae worked with designer Barbie Palomino to give her home what she calls a "resorty, chill vibe" inspired by Palm Springs. According to the AD interview, the home has two living spaces — a formal living room and a more casual family room — which are connected by a photo-adorned curved wall but separated by a fireplace. The formal living room, which is where filmed her monologue for Coastal Elites, has a light and bright look and feature's a curved white couch, which Rae says is her favorite piece in the space.
Dan Levy
Dan Levy, who many know as one of the creators and stars of Schitt's Creek, plays Mark Hesterman, an actor who talks to his therapist via video chat about his career being disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. In real life, Levy lives in a 1930s Spanish-style villa in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.
According to Variety, the actor purchased the home in November 2019 for $4.13 million. At 3,177 square feet, it has plenty of space for filming, but based on clips from Coastal Elites, it looks like Levy set up his camera in one of his home's four bedrooms.
Sarah Paulson
Because Sarah Paulson plays
Clarissa Montgomery, a YouTube personality whose meditation videos take place in front of a green screen set up for soothing backgrounds like a babbling brook, it's hard to tell which room of her $1.65 million Hollywood Hills West home she filmed in.
Paulson bought the single-story, open-plan house directly from her American Horror Story co-star Emma Roberts in an off-market deal in 2016, and it is the first home Paulson has ever owned. According to the Los Angeles Times, the home features a living room, a media room, three bedrooms, and three and a half bathrooms. In 2017, the actress told Architectural Digest that she had done extensive renovations to the house before moving in, but she didn't mention anything about creating a space for film shoots. We're guessing that, like everyone else, she had no idea at-home productions would ever become a thing.
Kaitlyn Dever
Kaitlyn Dever plays Sharynn Tarrows, a nurse from Wyoming who has come to New York to help out during the height of the pandemic. Her monologue is, of course, set in a cramped NYC apartment, which you wouldn't expect to find any famous actress living in IRL. However, according to the Los Angeles Times, as of May 2019, Dever lived in her parents' guest house in the San Fernando Valley. The actress has gained great success since then thanks to her roles in Booksmart and Unbelievable, so she may have moved out, but she is still just 23 and an L.A. guest house is a great stand-in for a New York apartment.
Regardless of where Dever calls home these days, we know that her scenes did take place in her actual kitchen, because the actress has posted Instagram photos of herself out of character in that space. We recognize the subway tile backsplash, marble countertop, and dreamy light blue Smeg refrigerator.
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Bette Midler
Bette Midler's role in Coastal Elites stands out as it's the only monologue that takes place before the COVID-19 pandemic and outside of her character's home. Midler plays Miriam Nessler, a New York City public school teacher who finds herself in police custody. Her scene, in turn, is set at a police station, and though it certainly doesn't look like it, according to HBO, it was actually still shot in Midler's house.
The dimly lit police station, with its drab blue-and-white walls and single sad water cooler seems out of character for Midler's $50 million Upper East Side penthouse. The home, which is currently on the market, occupies the top three floors of a building that overlooks Central Park. The Coastal Elites production team may have transformed one of the penthouse's six bedrooms, two studies, fitness room, library, or laundry and pressing room into the police interrogation space. Or, perhaps, filming took place at one of the other homes that Midler surely owns.
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