‘Much Ado’ about the Cole/Whedon house

Joss Whedon’s adaptation of “Much Ado About Nothing” will focus on its unusual location -- Whedon’s own home, a Mediterranean-style house in Santa Monica which was designed by his wife.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Joss Whedon: “The house informs what the movie is. It has a combination of sunny spaciousness and dark labyrinthine intrigue.”  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

When she was trying to figure out what to do with a pitched corner of the backyard that overlooks a country club, Cole envisioned it as an open-air performance space and set rock slab seats in a few tiers around a semi-circular grass stage, a la Sophocles.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

The “Much Ado” house was built in the 1920s, but Kai Cole gutted it to the studs and rebuilt it using reclaimed French wood and tiles, graceful arched doorways and leaded glass windows and antique furniture from yard sales in Cape Cod, where she grew up.  (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)