…maybe.
Must be quite a way to introduce yourself: “Hi, I’m Dan and I’m scouting locations for the next Reese Witherspoon movie.”
And that’s pretty much how Dan Kinkade did it. Not long afterward, I was escorting him around campus so he could see whether we had the look that director James L. Brooks is looking for in his romantic comedy that also stars Owen Wilson and…drum roll for the benefit of everyone who grew up on Saturday Night Live…BILL MURRAY. A number of scenes are set on a college campus.
Stops on our “location tour” included hallways and classroom spaces in Chase (see photo), Sharpless and the Koshland Science Center as well as athletic facilities (the Walton Track, Swan Field, the fitness center and indoor tennis courts); there’s also a need for a central casting-style ‘professor’s office’ but sadly Aryeh Kosman wasn’t in today, so I’ll have to email Dan a snapshot — I believe that Aryeh even has a bust of Plato on a pedestal. It’s fair to say that the interior of the library (The Boat and the Phillips Wing) blew Dan’s mind, as did Founders Great Hall (already memorialized in “Eddie and the Cruisers”).
Next step: he sends the imagery to director Brooks, who flies out to look around in person if he likes what he sees. Shooting would happen in June.