nawl

As I mentioned in the previous photo-laden post, it looked like something was going to be filmed on campus today. There were trailers and trucks of equpiment and vans camped out between Evans and the library. Very little seemed to be happening until 5, when suddenly cameras and people appeared in front of the library. Of course I went over to gawk.

An electrician near the piles of bored extras said they were filming a movie called "Bee Season". Later, we were told they've been filming all over the east bay for weeks, and that the directors went to Berkeley so they switched locations from Pittsburgh to Berkeley.

The scene they were shooting wasn't more than 15 seconds long, but they did it over and over again. A view of what it probably looks like in the movie: the dad and the girl walk past an old guy into the library, and the old guy greets them and wishes her luck. The more takes they did, the shorter the lines got.

And here are our stars:

Richard Gere actually looks, well, a lot like you'd expect in real life, though I'm sure he's heavily made up. Some gratuitous action shots:

The girl started to get irritated and make faces after the first few times through:

Their extras look more like an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog than real students:

All the gawkers were lined up across the stone barrier facing the steps. The directors kept having to shoo people away from the library entrance (who knew they'd be filming there today?) and away from a section of the path past the library that was apparently visible from the camera.

They're apparently doing more filming inside LeConte. When Chiara and I walked by after the library scene was done, there was a big yellow tube going from inside the building to a large scary piece of machinery. I'm not sure what it might be for. If they're using 1 LeConte, I might just have to go see the movie just so I can see the room I spent so many early morning Physics lectures in full of attractive kids on a really big screen. It'll be like the Graduate, only better.

I have quite a few more pictures than these, though most of them suck, and three short videos. Email me (nadiah at (berkeley)) if you would like me to send them to you somehow.