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Was Apples Never Fall Actually Filmed in Florida? Well, Not Quite
Here's the scoop on where Apples Never Fall was shot and what the cast "loved to hate" about the location.
Stand-ins are used all the time in movies and TV shows. Apples Never Fall, a Peacock Original based on Liane Moriarty’s best-selling novel streaming in full on March 14, relies on a stand-in that's hiding in plain sight in all seven episodes — its setting.
The miniseries starring Sam Neill and Annette Bening revolves around the Delaneys, a West Palm Beach, Florida tennis dynasty of sorts. Joy’s sudden disappearance leaves Stan and the couple’s four adult children in shambles. The burning question: Where is Joy?
It’s no mystery, though, where the series was filmed. Here’s the scoop on Apples Never Fall's shooting location — and what the cast “loved to hate” about it.
Where was Apples Never Fall set?
The show is set in Palm Beach, Florida.
Year-round sunshine makes Florida great for tennis, so it’s a natural GPS for Apples Never Fall.
“I set the show in South Florida because it is the seat of so much competitive tennis training in the United States,” shared Melanie Marnich, the Peacock series writer, showrunner, and executive producer, in press notes. “Through the wonders of production design, we created West Palm Beach.”
Where was Apples Never Fall filmed?
That creative magic took place in Australia, specifically its Gold Coast in Queensland, which doubled for Florida. Fans of Moriarty’s hit 2021 novel will recall that the setting in the book is Sydney.
By all accounts, the cast enjoyed the shoot Down Under.
“Australia is heavenly. It’s a beautiful place and the crews were superb,” Bening said in press notes. “We were based on the Gold Coast but we did some work in the mountains, by the water, and in the studio.”
Neill, a New Zealand native, echoed enthusiasm for the Gold Coast. “There is no winter, we shot at a great studio,” he shared in press notes. “It’s weirdly like you’re on holiday and at work at the same time.”
RELATED: Alison Brie Started the Apples Never Fall Group Chat in the Most Unusually Hilarious Way
The Delaneys’ four adult kids are played by Alison Brie (GLOW), Jake Lacy (A Friend of the Family), and Australian actors Conor Merrigan-Turner (Thai Cave Rescue) and Essie Randles (Speedway).
The cast was kept on the move during the shoot, because there were three separate sets for the Delaney home. Brie and Randles dished about that experience with NBC Insider.
“We had three homes,” said Randles. “We had one in the Village Roadshow Studios, and then we had one that was the exterior of the home, and then we had one up in Pimpama.”
“Which we all hated,” said Brie, who explained her antipathy for the area. “The house was fully built on a soundstage. We would shoot a lot of the interior stuff there ’cause you have all the control. And you have bathrooms, real bathrooms .... But the tennis court and the exterior of the house were all built out in a field of mud in the middle of nowhere."
Turns out that Mother Nature could be a real buzzkill.
“Because it was on a field, it was very weather prone,” said Randles. “If it was raining, it was wet. If it was cold, it was freezing. If it was hot, it was very hot.
“Very hot,” said Brie, who acknowledged that what the production crew accomplished “was pretty extraordinary.”
Despite the physical rigors of the shoot, the actors had fond recollections.
“We did have some of our best times at Pimpama,” said Randles.
“We love Pimpama. We love to hate it,” added Brie.
Randles reminisced about watching Met Gala arrivals happening in New York on their phones while in Pimpana.
“We were rating the outfits,” she told NBC Insider.
“That was really fun,” said Brie. “Like a true family that gets along, it doesn’t matter where you are. You have fun anywhere.”
Watch Apples Never Fall, premiering March 14 on Peacock.
Additional reporting by Stephanie Gomulka.
