December 15, 2009
Universal City Studio’s Film “It’s
Complicated,” Starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, Features
Scene from University’s Queens Campus
St. John’s Queens campus was the setting for a two-day major motion
picture shoot this past summer for the upcoming Universal City
Studios film “It’s Complicated,” starring actors Meryl Streep, Alec
Baldwin and Steve Martin.
The movie, directed by Nancy Meyers (famous for such films as What
Women Want and The Parent Trap), hits theatres nationwide on
December 25.
Universal City Studios filmed St. John’s actual Queens Commencement
exercise on Sunday, May 17, 2009 sans the actors in a scene that
called for Streep and Baldwin’s characters to come together to
celebrate a college graduation in their family. The scene was
re-created the following day with 1,000 extras (some St. John’s own
students, administrators and staff), along with Streep, Baldwin and
John Krasinski (who stars in the television series The Office and
the movie Leatherheads), as two-thirds of the actors adorned St.
John’s caps and gowns while others played the role of friends and
family of the graduates.
The same staging, pomp and circumstance were in place as
St. John’s Great Lawn was transformed into two days of movie making
complete with camera crane operators, hair, makeup and wardrobe
tents and star trailers lined up three-deep inside the campus
walls. The Hollywood buzz swept throughout the Queens
campus as several onlookers from the University community witnessed
the historic event take place around the perimeter of the movie
set.
A major publicity push is currently in full swing for the Christmas
Day release of the film. An official still photograph from “It’s
Complicated” taken at the University was featured in an item about
John Krasinski for the December 21 edition of People magazine,
currently on newsstands all across the country.
For more information about the motion picture shoot at St. John’s
please contact Dominic Scianna, Assistant Vice President for Media
Relations, by calling (718) 990-6185 or e-mail inquires to sciannad@stjohns.edu.