Right before COVID chaos started, Clea DuVall came out with a one-of-a-kind romantic comedy called Happiest Season. The 102-minute-long film starred Twilight’s Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie David in the main roles.
Distributed by Hulu, Happiest Season revolves around Abby Holland and Harper Caldwell, a couple that hopes to spend the holidays with their parents. However, there’s one big secret; Harper still hasn’t come out as gay to her parents, putting Abby in an awkward situation where she pretends to be her roommate & friend.
DuVall had revealed that the romantic comedy was a partial autobiography. Besides Kristen and Mackenzie, the cast of Happiest Season consists of Alison Brie as Sloane, Aubrey Plaza in the role of Riley, Dan Levy plays John, and Victor Garber plays Ted.
Happiest Season: Filming Locations
Filming for Happiest Season began sometime back in January 2020, the time when Covid-19 was just beginning to spread rapidly all over the world. The shooting for this romantic comedy lasted up until February, with John Guleserian as the principal cinematographer. Most of the Happiest Season has been filmed in various cities spread around Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
At the beginning of the movie, the apartment where Harper and Abby live together is located at 4059 Butler Street in Lawrenceville. It’s one of the biggest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, where other movies like The Fault In Our Stars, Resident Romero, and American Pastoral were filmed.
The place where Abby and John, her best friend, meet up and talk is situated at The Vandal coffee shop in the same neighborhood. Another recognizable place in Pittsburgh would be Butler Street, where Abby walks after visiting the store.
Harper’s family and her ex-boyfriend are seen having dinner at Chartiers Country Club. This Pittsburgh private golf club has a variety of recreational sports and dining facilities for its members.
Abby and Harper are then seen visiting the ice rink at Belmont Complex Ice Rink. This large sports complex has been operating for quite a lot of years and hosts Hockey games as well as skating activities. The Ross Park Mall, a multi-level shopping mall in North Pittsburgh was also a part of Happiest Season.
Riley, Harper’s ex-girlfriend, and Abby decided to go for a drink at The Oxwood, which was the interior of Real Luck Cafe in Pittsburgh. Located at 1519 Penn Ave, this place is regarded as the only gay-owned bar and club in the area.
The place where Abby and Harper arrive for the holidays, the Caldwell house, was built at the 31st Street Studios. One of Pittsburgh’s popular locations for filming all kinds of movies and TV shows, the 31st Street Studios is situated in the Strip District and is currently in redevelopment.
A major part of Happiest Season seems to have been filmed in Pittsburgh, but the city isn’t entirely new to being a famous filming spot, as it’s also the place where all-time hits like The Silence of The Lamb, The Dark Knight Rises, and RoboCop were filmed.
Going 6 miles northwest of Pittsburgh would get us to Avalon, which is the place where The Candy Cane Lane scene was filmed right when the movie begins. The inspiration for this street was the actual Candy Cane Lane or the 200 block of Summer Street situated in DuBoistown.
This festive street is decorated beautifully with lights, candy canes & much more from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It’s undeniably a well-known street among sightseers, giving the surrounding area a boost in traffic too, especially during Christmas. The Candy Cane Lane decor was recreated for Happiest Season.
Another one of Pennsylvania’s cities that we see in the movie is Grove City. Abby is saddened by the way Harper has treated her and decides to eat alone at a restaurant during Christmas. This restaurant was the authentic Italian place Nonni’s Corner Trattoria at 251 S. Broad St. Grove City.
Grove City has also been where movies like Ragmork and Luminous Dreams were filmed. It isn’t a popular location so not many projects have been shot in this borough in Southeastern Mercer County of Pennsylvania.
With so many diverse sports around Pennsylvania, Happiest Season offers tons of captivating scenes that perfectly capture the atmosphere of the movie. At present, Happiest Season is available to watch on Hulu, Netflix, and Prime Video.
