Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Couple Let Johnny Knoxville Crash Their Wedding For 'Bad Grandpa'
Would you let notorious Jackass prankster Johnny Knoxville come to your wedding? How about letting him crash your reception as part of his latest bad taste movie, Bad Grandpa?
An L.A. couple let Knoxville (in makeup as his Bad Grandpa character) use their wedding at the Wattles Mansion as a backdrop for part of the hidden-camera comedy.
It didn't hurt that the groom, Jarrod Brom, was a producer on the film, or that his bride, Kim Peeler, was unusually game to let their August 2012 wedding be part of the movie. "Let’s have them prank our wedding! How awesome would that be?" she told Huffington Post.
The production company decided to have Knoxville prank a few guests during the post-ceremony reception, instead of interrupting the wedding itself. (The gung-ho bride actually wanted him to shout out, "I object to this marriage! I'm sleeping with the groom!" but got shot down.)
Support for LAist comes from
The wedding party was in on the joke but not the guests, who reacted understandably to a rowdy old man who knocked over the stack of champagne glasses and the wedding cake, with his "grandson" then munching unceremoniously on a sizable chunk.
Peeler said did have second thoughts at one point, but decided it was all worth it. "It hit me that this is really going down, like for real, this is going to actually happen," Peeler said. "A Paramount movie has taken over our wedding. It’s going to look like a million bucks in addition to being a story to tell the grandkids. I loved it."
She said she was too focused on the wedding itself to be distracted by the fact that it was all being filmed for a movie. "We laughed, we cried, and we were able to forget about the dozen cameras perched and waiting to capture a crazy cake stunt."
The movie opened this weekend, knocking Gravity off the top of the box-office charts.
The scenic Wattles Mansion, which is located at 1824 North Curson Avenue, was also used in Mariah Carey's video for "We Belong Together," in which she's tying the knot with Eric Roberts, then ditches the groom for Wentworth Miller.
Support for LAist comes from
The mansion was built in 1907 by wealthy Omaha, Nebraska banker Gurdon Wattles as a winter home. The property has since been split into three areas: the Wattles Mansion, Wattles Park and Wattles Gardens. The mansion has been used in productions including The O.C. and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (as the frat house in "Reptile Boy"), Troop Beverly Hills, and the sanitarium scenes in Rain Man .
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
-
Hexavalent chromium is the same carcinogen Erin Brockovich warned about in the 1990s, but researchers say more study is needed on the potential health effects of nanoparticles detected earlier this year. Experts will answer questions at a webinar this evening.
Best of LAist