"There Will Be Blood" starring Daniel Day Lewis and... Greystone Mansion!

[Midnite]

In the Home section of today's LA Times:

SET PIECES: At Greystone, there will be 'Blood' -- and bowling
The article discusses the appeal of Greystone as a filming location, a brief history of the mansion, and its (until now) hidden secret.  Some photos in the print edition do not appear in the online version, and vice versa, but each has at least one shot of the notorious "Old House" staircase.


Who knew that Collinwood had a bowling alley?! 

Thanks, Bette!

[Mark Rainey]

Greystone's not a shabby little shack. I offered to buy it one time, but they wouldn't take a check, and I didn't want to put it on my credit card since the interest rate is terrible.

So what if my offer was a few million below fair market value. Real estate is a tough business these days.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Nice article. Thanks so much for posting the link! 

(On a side note, though, I think it's way past time for the LA Times to update their photo library. To say those B&W photos of Greystone are DECADES OLD would be an understatement!  )

[joe integlia]

the new NATIONAL TREASURE movie also contains a scene filmed at GREYSTONE. the courtyard is shown as well as the front entrance where vicki arrived as well as a scene inside the mansion.

[Midnite]

the new NATIONAL TREASURE movie also contains a scene filmed at GREYSTONE. the courtyard is shown as well as the front entrance where vicki arrived as well as a scene inside the mansion.

In the new National Treasure, it's nice to see the actual front doors (seen in the Times article, btw) get used for a change.  Even on DS, the front door to the Old House is on the side of the house that's oppposite the staircase-- oh, the magic of TV. 

Harvey Keitel shows up in it too (again).

(On a side note, though, I think it's way past time for the LA Times to update their photo library. To say those B&W photos of Greystone are DECADES OLD would be an understatement!  )

LOL!  In the print edition, one of the pics is from 1929!

[D_Friedlander]

When I first heard the plot synopsis for "The Will Be Blood" I had wondered if it would be a fictionalized version of the Doheny family story---  Well, there are some elements, as Upton Sinclair (who wrote the original novel OIL! was no doubt familiar with those shady goings-on by then, but it's NOT a Doheny bio-pic.  Even so, it IS fitting that they DID film some scenes in an authentic mansion built by one of the most notorious CA oil moguls of that era.

[Midnite]

Who knew that Collinwood had a bowling alley?! 

A letter in yesterday's LA Times Home section:

Going bowling in 'Mars'
     I enjoyed your "Set Pieces" article about Edward Doheny's Greystone Mansion, one of the my favorite L.A. film locations ["'Blood Work': ...]. But if the makers of "There Will Be Blood" had tracked down the ingeniously economical Fox B-picture "The Day Mars Invaded Earth," which was shot extensively on the grounds in 1962, they would have found that the disused bowling alley had been seen on film, fully functional, in black-and-white CinemaScope.
     "Mars" provides probably the most extensive tour of the property, inside and out,, of all the feaures that were shot there, including such better-known works as "The Loved One" and "The Disorderly Orderly."

JOE DANTE, Hollywood

Again, who knew?!!

The picture of Greystone's courtyard that accompanied this letter was repeated in the same day's paper (how lazy!) for a review of the current season of Theatre 40's production "The Manor," in which Greystone itself  becomes a melancholy character in the play.  (For more info, a search of the Calendar '07 #1 board will bring up lots.  But unfortunately, Quentin Jones has moved on, though of course yesterday's Times article also has a photo of him playing Ned Doheny, lol.)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Again, who knew?!!

Honestly, I did know about the bowling alley - but only because I love architecture so much, I love Greystone so much, and I researched the house soon after learning it was going to be used as Collinwood in the '91 series.

I have copies of both The Loved One and The Disorderly Orderly (though whole chunks of that movie were actually shot on sets),  but I didn't know about The Day Mars Invaded Earth. Now I'll definitely have to try to track that one down! Thanks so much for sharing the letter, Midnite. 

[Mark Rainey]

I've got an old VHS of Mars, and Greystone is one of the movie's highlights. It's a pretty nifty little flick -- very low budget, but for its time, a fair psychological thriller. Very strong on atmosphere, largely due to Greystone itself.