Will Smith once used this $2.5 million, 1,200-square-foot motorhome on film sets; the two-storey vehicle is now a luxury stay near Austin: Why it remains so special |
What if you could spend some nights at Will Smith‘s home? Well, this is no longer just a fantasy, as a unique abode once used by the actor on film sets has been transformed into a luxury stay near Austin. What makes the home extremely special is not just the owner but also its own architecture.While most actors make do with a standard production trailer while on a film set, Smith, at the height of his blockbuster career, commissioned something considerably more ambitious: a 53-foot, double-decker motorhome that Anderson Mobile Estates built to his specifications and nicknamed “The Heat.”
A custom unit
The Heat, as the home is named, runs on 22 wheels.
The ‘Suicide Squad’ actor first came across one of Anderson’s previous builds around 2000, and after being impressed, he commissioned a custom unit of his own. Over the following years, it served as his on-set home during the productions of Ali, Men in Black 3, and The Pursuit of Happyness.The Heat, as the home is named, runs on 22 wheels. It weighs a whopping 30 tons and generates roughly 1,200 square feet of living space once fully deployed, making it one of the largest RVs ever built. Eight hydraulic pistons, each applying around 2,000 pounds of pressure, raise the roof by 42 inches to create an upper level housing a 30-person screening room fitted with a 100-inch drop-down screen and automatic shades.The lower level is for the day-to-day: a full kitchen with $200,000 worth of granite countertops, two separate lounges, one doubling as a wardrobe, the other containing a professional makeup station and office, hardwood floors, and automatic sliding doors. The trailer’s bathroom stretches from one side to the other, features a sauna shower and a glass door capable of turning opaque at the touch of a button, and carries a standalone price tag of $25,000. The build incorporates 14 televisions and other advanced electronics totalling $125,000, genuine leather covering the seats and ceilings at a cost of $30,000, and natural stone installations valued at more than $125,000. It is, by any measure, a more comfortable residence than most permanent homes.Anderson Mobile Estates, a Texas-based company founded by Ron and Natalie Anderson, had spent decades outfitting rock tours and celebrity trailers before graduating to projects of this scale. Their client list eventually expanded to include Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez, Vin Diesel, and Simon Cowell among others. Anderson’s method for crafting these custom builds was intentionally individualised, as per the Hollywood Reporter. “The key to our success was that we create a home on set,” Anderson explained. “I would like to go to [a star’s] house first and see certain aspects so I could create something that reminded them of home, that triggers that part of their brain that says, ‘This is the place I relax.’”
A stay for all
he motorhome now rents out for just $295 per night
Smith used The Heat for well over a decade before eventually parting ways with it. The motorhome returned to the real estate agency and now anchors 7744 Ranch, a 10-acre glamping resort outside Austin, Texas. Once commanding $9,000 a night during its time serving Hollywood productions, the motorhome now rents out for just $295 per night. Anderson has framed it accordingly: “We’re at a very reasonable price of $295 a night to stay in a unit that cost $4 million to put into place.”At its peak, The Heat was exactly the kind of extravagance that made sense for Smith’s position in Hollywood, he headlined eight consecutive number-one films between 2002 and 2008, per SlashGear, grossing over $100 million domestically on each.Now, it hosts people in a nostalgia of luxury that was once enjoyed by one of Hollywood’s finest actors.
