Filming flips campus the bird

Meredith Moroney '02 leaned out her window in 1901 Hall Tuesday with her camera to catch recent Oscar Award winner Russell Crowe in action during the filming of "A Beautiful Mind." As she snapped the picture, Crowe turned around to face her, thrust his hand in the air and extended his middle finger.

Moroney said her life has been turned upside down this week, with her voice-mail box perpetually full of phone calls from newspapers around the world and news crews waiting in the courtyard below her second-story room, requesting interviews and permission to print the photo.

"The phone rings from London, Italy, Australia — there are calls that you wouldn't believe," Moroney said.

Less than a week after he won the best actor Oscar for his performance in "Gladiator," Crowe's stunt is sure to draw international publicity, but the film's spokeswoman said she is not concerned.

"When it happened, no one even noticed it," she said. "It doesn't affect our filming at all. Russell Crowe has been signing autographs for kids and lots of people who have been there watching. He's been great."

Though they have not been personally insulted by the movie star, several students said the filming has had a significant impact on campus life. Many cited tighter security policies while the camera crews are in action and increased commotion in general as direct results of the filming.

"It's been a fun two days, especially because of all the obvious policies that are in place," Wade Rakes '02 said. "Windows have to be closed now where they're filming, and Public Safety is around."

Director of University Communications Marilyn Marks said her office has been extremely busy since the filming began on Monday. "I've had more than 30 phone calls from reporters across the country in the past couple of days," she said.

A Public Safety officer stationed in the Elm Drive guard booth said traffic on campus has increased because of the presence of spectators and vehicles transporting filming equipment.

"We have to regulate the traffic coming into the entrances to campus where they're filming," the guard, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "We have to stop the traffic for the shooting when the crew says stop, usually for about five minutes at a time. It's very intermittent."

Marks said the University has sent e-mails to all students who could be affected by the camera crews to help avoid problems.

"The University is giving notice to people who may be affected by this filming so they will know to leave a little earlier for their classes or wherever they're going," she said. "I haven't had any complaints so I think the notices are working."

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The film's spokeswoman said the filming will continue through the end of this week but could not comment on specific filming sites.

Moroney said that, overall, the filming has been positive for the University.

"I wouldn't say that the filming itself has been a distraction for students or that the University has done anything wrong by having them on campus," Moroney said. "I think what Russell Crowe did was more of a distraction."