Palm trees, red-brick buildings, bubbling fountains, sprawling gardens and sunny skies… Our newly minted Trojans may be coming to campus for the first time, but they feel like they recognize the USC landscapes… Well, it’s not an eerie case of déjà vu. It’s because they really have seen it before on screen! USC’s University Park Campus is famous for being the shooting location of many iconic films, TV shows and ads. In addition to being one of the finest academic institutions, USC moonlights as an on-screen star. Its architectural aesthetics have made it a top choice as a setting for iconic hits like Forrest Gump and Legally Blonde. We swear some students in the past have missed classes because they’d suddenly seen Reese Witherspoon and the crew shooting outside the Bovard Administration Building.
Since the 1930s, USC has stood in for fictitious colleges, real universities or simply as a picturesque background for the silver screen. It all started in the silent film era when Laurel and Hardy made their way down what is now 34 th Street. After that, the filming projects kept on coming. “USC is the university to go to when shooting in Los Angeles,” said Jason Kaplon, location manager on How to Get Away with Murder. Any fan of the show can spot the similarities between Murder’s Middleton University and the campus — the Physical Education Building, Wallis Annenberg Hall, and the camera-favorite Bovard Administration Building. A signboard on campus with Middleton University means that Shonda Rhimes’ cameras are not far away. For The Graduate, an iconic 1967 romantic comedy, USC stood in for UC Berkeley. For Legally Blonde and The Social Network, USC was Harvard. For Gilmore Girls, Rory went to Yale – once again, portrayed by USC. The baseball tryouts in the Million Dollar Arm happen at USC’s very own Dedeaux Field.
Filmmakers have flocked to USC because it provides a combination that is hard to find elsewhere: an Ivy League look with pleasant weather. Filming at USC is so common that there is one thriving department dedicated to just liaising with film crews. However, in many cases, nostalgia has brought alumni back for filming their projects. USC’s director of Campus Filming and Special Projects believes that in 95 percent of the projects filmed at USC, there’s a Trojan involved. It could be the director, the actor, the gaffer or the sound editor! USC’s notable alumni, especially from the international community, have added to its stardom. Before being known as the “Squid Game director who faced multiple rejections for one of the most popular Netflix shows today”, Hwang Dong-Hyuk was a Trojan!
An internationally-acclaimed film that was recently shot at USC is The Illegal. Starring Suraj Sharma, the Indian actor who debuted with the award-winning Life of Pi, the movie is a gritty, realistic story about the social underclass: illegal immigrants working in a restaurant in Los Angeles. Written and directed by Danish Renzu, who also migrated to the US when he was very young, The Illegal tracks the journey of Hassan, going to Los Angeles from Delhi to study film-making! Can you imagine anything more wholesome than a Trojan shooting a movie at his alma mater about a migrant Indian student hoping to become a director? Check out the trailer for the shot of Suraj Sharma walking around our favorite Ronald Tutor Campus Center with a voiceover of chasing his American Dream.
Renzu studied electrical engineering at UCLA and worked for AT&T for five years before pursuing the love he always harbored for filmmaking. “I have been an immigrant in the U.S. I went there at a very young age. I also was an international student and did multiple jobs to survive. I met fellow veterans and listened to the stories of their journey, which inspired me to write the script,” he said.
Talking about the film, Sharma says that the story was a lot similar to his personal life experiences. He shares, “During my time in America, I used to go to all these Indian restaurants for my ‘ghar ka khana’ (homemade Indian food), where I came across all these Indian people and their backstories, which gave me a very sharp and clear insight of their life. Over the course of years, I realized what intense backgrounds they come from, how they are pushing themselves to provide for their families and fulfill their goals. So, when I came across the script, I could relate to the character of Hassan, because I have lived through that and heard about it before”.
This weekend, hop on to Amazon Prime Video to fall in love with our campus again through the eyes of a budding filmmaker, and find some incredible inspiration along the way! The best part? USC students get a 6-month free trial for Amazon Prime!
Written by Devanshi Punch, Masters in Marketing, USC Marshall, 2023