“Full House ”Creator Reveals the Real Reason He Bought the Iconic House in 2016: 'I Just Had This Dream' (Exclusive)
Director Tommy Avallone tells PEOPLE how a chance encounter led to the beginning of a years-long project, which debuts Oct. 25
A chance conversation with a member of the Full House cast helped make Tommy Avallone's dream documentary come true.
The director tells PEOPLE he was "at the only Hollywood party I've ever been to" when he chatted with John Stamos. The conversation, years ago, helped propel the project and breathed life into it.
"He introduced me to Jeff Franklin, who created Full House. I was like, 'Oh my God, you own the Full House house? How cool is that?' And we started talking and I told him about this idea, I've always wanted to do." The idea was a documentary about famous houses from film and television, The House From ... which airs this weekend.
The two later met for lunch, where they discussed the idea further. "I told him about it, and he's like, 'Well, in all seriousness, I'm going to be there in a month if you want to film the house,' so that was really what got it started.'"
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The Full House creator, who appears in the documentary, explains that he bought the house for $4 million in 2016, with the intention of using it to film Fuller House. While that didn't entirely pan out, he was able to enjoy some special moments with the residence.
"Once Fuller House was back on the air, I just had this dream where the cast walks out of the sound stage, out of the living room, through the red door, and suddenly we’re in San Francisco, and we see the cast come out the real front door of the house. I actually got to do that when I bought the house."
Recalling scouting it out for the original series, Franklin said, "Well obviously, Full House is set in San Francisco, so I wanted the home to be a good example of classic San Francisco architecture. This home just jumped out at me. I said, 'That’s it, that’s the house I want.' "
"We shot those initial establishing shots on film, so we were able to adapt it for today’s standards and transfer it into high def, so it still looks pretty good. So that footage has served us amazingly well. We shot daytime, we shot nighttime, we did our push-ins and our pullbacks."
Related: 'Full House' Cast: Where Are They Now?
Franklin explains that at least one of the "maybe 15 shots" taken from that time has appeared in every episode of Full House and Fuller House.
"The same shots appear in every episode. I have a real emotional connection to this house. I’ve edited every one of those episodes. I’ve stared at that same footage of this house for 32 years, and it does feel like it's sort of the Tanner house. It does feel real to me, so owning the house at first was pretty cool. It was great also because we could also finally come back here.”
Learn more about the Full House home and so many other houses in film history when The House From... premieres on Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Channel on Fubo, Sunday, Oct. 27. It will also be available for purchase on TVOD platforms starting Monday, Oct. 28.
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