The palace in ‘Coming 2 America’ is Rick Ross’ actual house
Amazon Studios
The palace in ‘Coming 2 America’ is Rick Ross’ actual house
Words: Dylan Murphy
Now that’s a plot twist.
Eddie Murphy returned to reprise his role as Prince Akeem Joffer in ‘Coming 2 America’, the follow up to 1988 comedy ‘Coming To America’.
Playing a royal from the fictional land of Zamunda, the first question that came to mind for the production crew is how do they find a home that could pass for a palace?
Speaking to Variety, production designer Jefferson Sage said, “Our big problem was, where do we find a house that had the scale of the possibilities for a very lavish palace?”
With Atlanta being a hub for the country’s hip hop talent, it comes as no surprise there were no shortage of mansions to pick from when trying to recreate a stately home. So with that in mind, Eddie’s homeland was largely recreated in the American state of Georgia.
Florida rapper Rick Ross gave the crew access to his estate on the periphery of Atlanta.
Sitting on 235 acres, the 45k square foot mansion in Fayetteville has 12 bedrooms and a dining room that can host 100 people.
Speaking on the home, Sage said, “That entrance foyer with the big two-story interior and double-winding staircase was perfect.”
“Off of that, there were two beautiful big rooms with giant windows and 18-foot ceilings. We used five key spaces that we turned into Zamunda.”
Rick Ross was buzzed to see his home put to use for the film, as the original is one of his favourite flicks of all time.
“They also created that huge dining room table for a dining scene that seats 50-60 people, and they left that for me as a gift. It’s humungous.”
Much of the building’s original architecture stayed the same, with Sage adding gold to the ceilings and “so much gold leafing that we bought out the country’s supply for at least two months.”
Coming 2 America is available now on Amazon Prime. Watch the trailer below:
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