"Dan In Real Life:" A Summer House In Rhode Island

The 2007 movie Dan in Real Life is a heart-warming comedy about Dan Burns (Steve Carell), a widowed father who writes an advice column about parenting and relationship issues, even though he has plenty of his own.

When he takes his daughters to the annual family reunion in Rhode Island, he struggles to connect with them in the way he hopes.

The movie was filmed almost entirely on location in an 8-bedroom summer house known as Riven Rock in Jamestown, Rhode Island. It was built in 1911 and has been in the same family for generations.

Take a look!

The “Dan in Real Life” House: Riven Rock in Rhode Island

You can rent it during the summer.

There’s an interesting article in the Providence Journal about the locations used in the movie.

According to the paper, the movie crew changed a few things, like adding awnings to the front of the house (the family liked them but moved them to the water side after filming).

Director Peter Hedges says, “To me, the house was another character in the film. The minute I walked in, I couldn’t wait to start filming in it.”

Even though it was a kind of small, quiet film, there were a lot of big actors in it, like Juliette Binoche as the woman Dan has fallen for, and John Mahoney and Dianne Wiest as his parents (even though Wiest is only about 10 years older than Steve Carell).

It looks like they also added a red pegboard and shelving beside the fridge for the movie:

Producers recruited some local children to play Dan’s young nieces and nephews.

The Dining Room with Stone Fireplace:

The dining room has a view of the water from the windows:

As the only adult in the house without a partner,

Dan has to sleep on a cot in the laundry room:

Peter Hedges, who wrote the screenplay with Pierce Gardner, says that the film was really a tribute to his own father who raised him and his siblings alone: “I know he was really lonely. The nights were the hardest for my dad.”

Hedges says he wanted the movie to be a “human comedy” that just shows the humor in real life, tempered with pain and sadness.

It has nothing to do with the house, but I have to mention that the police officer who pulls Dan over

several times during the movie was played by Matthew Morrison (aka Mr. Schuester from Glee):

The Entry Hall and Staircase:

The Family Room:

The cast (except for Steve Carell, who was busy filming The Office) spent four days living in the house and rehearing scenes before the cameras arrived, so they could bond and get into a familiar rhythm.

They put on a talent show for Carell when he arrived similar to the one shown in the movie.

He jokes, “I probably like these people better than my own family now.”

Want to take your own family to Riven Rock for a “real life” vacation?

Check the listing for rental information.

Visit my Houses Onscreen page to see the others I’ve featured, listed A-Z.

Are you hooked on houses? More to tour:

• “The Age of Adaline” and More Movies This Cottage Has Appeared In
• Creating the Castle and Colorful Houses for “Edward Scissorhands”
• Jumanji: A Look Back at the House from the Original Movie
• How They Built Forrest Gump’s Big Old Southern House for the Movie
• The Plantation House from “The Notebook” in South Carolina