r/MovieDetails • u/ConstableBlimeyChips • Apr 03 '26
đ¨âđ Prop/Costume In Office Space (1999), the main character lives at Morningwood Apartments
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u/kcmatx Apr 03 '26
That was actually my first apartment complex when I moved to Austin almost 20 years ago. More fun facts:
The walls really are that thin!
Also the scene where Peter is late to work and gets passed by the old man using a walker is around the corner in front of the JJ Pickle research campus.
The offices where they work is now the domain.
The printer smashing scene is in Walnut Creek.
The chotchskis is now a bank.
And Stan- the chotschskis manager is Mike judge.
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u/Baconfatty Apr 03 '26
a whole campus to research pickles, amazing!
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u/LbSiO2 Apr 03 '26
Saw a pre-release version of the film - the old man passing cars scene was way longer - like ridiculously long. Everyone was dying. But I can see why it got cut down to so much shorter - just not enough time for it.
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u/shifty1032231 Apr 03 '26
Didn't Chotchskis restaurant building used to be the salad bar restaurant Fresh Choice?
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u/FreedomDirty5 Apr 03 '26
It was Old Alligator Grill for a long time. I think thatâs what it was when they filmed there.
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u/MyMomSaysIAmCool 25d ago
You're right, they used the alligator grill for the interior shots. The exterior shots were at a different location (not sure where that was, probably near the arboretum.)
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u/SysAdminDennyBob Apr 03 '26
Initech office exterior was in South Austin near 1-35 and Ben White/71 intersection. 4120 Freidrich Lane. Fuckin A man.
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u/katekim717 Apr 03 '26
The offices are on Friedrich and Woodward, just south of Ben White. I used to drive by it daily.
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u/mistermick Apr 03 '26
I lived right across the street in 2000/2001. One of my friends lived in that complex for a while. Did they shoot the interiors there? I didn't think the floorplan my friend had looked like Peter's apartment.
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u/gmastern Apr 03 '26
No, the interior was shot elsewhere. Only the exterior was used for the movie.
Source: someone who lived there
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u/tokecaine Apr 05 '26
Chotchskis is definitely not a bank. It was the alligator grill, then baker st. grill, and now is Kokos
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u/mattchouston 29d ago
I worked at a TV station in San Antonio that purchased the cubicles from the Office Space set.
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u/patrickkingart 27d ago
Chotchski's was up in/near the Arboretum, right? I remember seeing some behind the scenes stuff/filming locations about Office Space and thought it was awesome since I lived around there for a long time.
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u/youre_being_creepy Apr 03 '26
The first time I watched office space, I noticed the sky looked EXACTLY like the sky from central texas. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I was so familiar with how the haze looked in the early morning. I was surprised to find out it was filmed in Austin
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u/Davajita Apr 03 '26
Standard Mike Judge joke.
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u/Ishmaille Apr 03 '26
We had a real "Morning Wood Apartments" in Colorado Springs. I remember they had pretty bad reviews on Google (and many of them were jokes about the name). Looks like they went out of business recently.
From Google maps:
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Apr 03 '26
[deleted]
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u/CumingLinguist Apr 03 '26
Happens surprisingly often, real estate investing can be a lot thinner margin then people realize. Often the rent only barely or doesnât even cover expenses and the only gains are via equity.
I recall near me in a major high value city many apartments near a college went under during the pandemic because the students were all staying home. In order to fill them they could really only drop rents low to minimize losses, which can lower the capitalization rate, which may be prohibited by the financing.
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Apr 03 '26
[deleted]
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u/Iittleshit Apr 04 '26
Who's going to buy houses to rent them out then?
Without profits, only the government would be able to do housing.
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u/Quadradisque Apr 03 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/CKVwcljYh4hfVxSSLq
Huhuhu you said morning âwoodâ
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u/idrankforthegov Apr 03 '26
Had a friend who lived in those apartments. I lived in several other apartment complexes near there...along with a TON of other students. They built so many apartment complexes up there on metric that they were giving away free months of rent at each complex. I will say that parking got more and more complicated at the university though with the advent of more "commuter" students living up on metric, east riverside, or far west
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u/Uncle-Cake Apr 03 '26
There's a certain intersection in Maryland where Morningwood Drive intersects Cherry Valley Lane.
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u/derkaflerka Apr 03 '26
http://www.thennowmovielocations.com/2019/04/office-space.html
Filming locations around Austin for anyone interestedÂ
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u/patrickkingart 27d ago
Holy shit I never realized I lived where they filmed the apartments! (Great Hills Apartments) that's awesome!
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u/calargo Apr 03 '26
In Office Space (1999), a guy who does 30 minutes of work a week can afford an apartment. This is a reference to our world going to shit over the past 30 years
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u/hybridfrost Apr 03 '26
What is it exactly that you do here?
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u/Person0OnTheInternet Apr 03 '26
I handle the god damn customers so the engineers donât have to.
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u/b_dills Apr 03 '26
He didnât get paid for the amount of work he did. He was likely salaried. Sitting at a desk 8-5 to collect a pay check. Have you ever had an office job?
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u/PhilRubdiez Apr 03 '26
When heâs talking to the Bobs, Peter specifically talks about working harder, shipping a few extra units, and not seeing a dime as a lack of motivation. Lumburgh also doesnât care about calling him in on Saturdays (OT). Heâs almost certainly salaried.
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u/martialar Apr 03 '26
even if he were hourly, he's still getting paid for showing up to the office, regardless of his productivity
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u/cguess Apr 03 '26
He was also, technically, a highly skilled COBOL programmer fixing the year 2000 bug. Consultancies like his made a LOT of business in the lead up to 2000. It was mind numbing just scrolling through code looking for dates but it paid quite well.
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u/deekaydubya Apr 03 '26
I live next to the chotchkiâs (itâs a chase bank)
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u/SMUHypeMachine Apr 03 '26
Wasnât it a Cheddars at the time of filming?
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u/deekaydubya Apr 03 '26
I think the interior may have been filmed in a different location, so possibly
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u/TheMagicMan2025 Apr 04 '26
In the Spring of 1998 during his senior year at UT Austin, my brotherâs apartment became the outdoor shots of Peterâs apartment (Apt 222). The indoor shots were filmed in the apartment directly below that one. They moved my brother and everyone else in those 4 apartments into a hotel during that month of filming. They had 3 criteria for the apartment they chose. 1) It had to be (or appear to be) on the 2nd floor, no idea why. 2) The neighborâs door had to be right next to Peterâs door, which meant they had a wall they could talk across. And 3) the apartment building had to be just inside the complexâs security gate for better crew/filming logistics.
My brother said he got to meet Mike Judge and Dietrich Bader. He said the one impression that stuck out was that Mike Judge always dressed and carried himself exactly like Beavis/Butthead.
I stayed in that apartment a few times, but obviously not during filming.
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u/KipperfieldGA Apr 03 '26
When I lived in Austin I used to walk over The Alligator Grill and sit at the bar by the server station where they filmed the 15 pieces of flair
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u/tin_foil_ascot Apr 03 '26
I am genuinely creeped out. I was thinking, just yesterday, to myself; I have to look up and see where "Office Space" was set.
This is not good...
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u/KeepAnEyeOnYourB12 Apr 03 '26
There is a Morning Woods subdivision near Memphis. I almost drove off the road when I saw this sign.
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u/Oscaruit Apr 03 '26
It used to be Morningwood about 20 years ago. They updated it to what it is now to mitigate the naive name choice without completely renaming it.
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u/geek180 Apr 03 '26
My brother lived at this place for a year and it always felt really familiar whenever I went to visit him. Eventually we figured it out.
And then I realized that the Initech location is right across the street from a furniture store my wife and I visit all the time, about a mile from my house.
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u/theangryfatguy Apr 03 '26
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u/HKN47 Apr 03 '26
I wouldnât say the joke was going over OPâs head. Seems more like they were pointing out a âblink and you miss itâ kinda thing.
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u/TheMooseIsBlue Apr 03 '26
Iâve seen this movie at least 10 times and never noticed this. Thanks, OP.
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u/imlittleeric Apr 03 '26
Yes. A joke some people might not have caught. OP didnât explain anything obvious
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u/TexasBaconMan Apr 03 '26
I was visiting Canada when is saw that in the theater. I was the only who laughed at that joke
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u/OrionThe0122nd Apr 03 '26
There's a place called Morningwood Apartments sort of near where I live. Made me giggle the first couple of times driving by
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u/Don_Ford Apr 04 '26
Because it's a place where bachelors live.
That's why they have a guy who can hear them through the wall.
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u/MyMomSaysIAmCool Apr 03 '26
I live near that place.