Meredith Moroney '02 leaned out her window in 1901 Hall with her camera to catch Oscar Award winner Russell Crowe in action during the filming of "A Beautiful Mind" on campus in April. 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 was turned upside down after the incident, 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 at the time.
Less than a week after he won the best actor Oscar for his performance in "Gladiator," Crowe's stunt seemed sure to draw international publicity, but the film's spokeswoman said after the incident that she was 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 had not been personally insulted by the movie star, several students said the filming had a significant impact on campus life. Many cited tighter security policies while the camera crews were 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 during the filming. "Windows have to be closed now where they're filming, and Public Safety is around."
Director of University Communications Marilyn Marks said her office was extremely busy during the filming. "I've had more than 30 phone calls from reporters across the country in the past couple of days," she said at the time.
A Public Safety officer stationed in the Elm Drive guard booth said traffic on campus 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 during the filming. "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 sent e-mails to all students who stood to 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."
Moroney said that, overall, the filming was a positive experience 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 during the filming. "I think what Russell Crowe did was more of a distraction."
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