9 Movie Sets Recycled In Other Movies

7. The Godfather Becomes The Bodyguard

Aliens batman — Paramount Pictures/Warner Bros.

Jack Woltz's mansion is not only a famous part of The Godfather, but that same exterior was also used in The Bodyguard.

In The Godfather, that mansion was the place where Woltz woke up next to the site of the decapitated head of his prize race horse lying next to him in bed. That scene is one of the most well-known of the entire Godfather trilogy, and it's a mob trope that has transcended into the mainstream conscience of pop culture.

When The Bodyguard finally went into production in 1991 - having originally been intended to be made in 1978 with Diana Ross in the lead role - Warner Bros. decided that rather than construct a lavish mansion for Whitney Houston's Rachel Marron to call home, they'd simply revisit the familiar locale of the Woltz mansion.

But recycling this exterior wasn't just something that was done for The Bodyguard, for the real-life Beverly House on North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills was also revisited for Steve Martin's The Jerk, Robert Sacchi's The Man with Bogart's Face, Chevy Chase's Fletch, and even for a couple of episodes of the Columbo TV series.

Without us even realising it, Jack Woltz's mansion in The Godfather is one of the most reused movie visuals in the history of cinema.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.

See more from Andrew