"We really liked the way Carnegie Mellon looked, as well as the vibe of the entire city," Film Director Noam Murro explained in front of Hamburg Hall. That building is just one of the many locations where the filming of Smart People began on November 6. Carnegie Mellon has been a filming site for movies before, such as The Mothman Prophecies (2002) and Wonder Boys (2000). However, this time Smart People is using Carnegie Mellon's name throughout the film.

Smart People, written by Mark Poirier, is a fictional story about a Carnegie Mellon English professor, played by Dennis Quaid (In Good Company, Traffic), and his relationship with a former student, played by Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City). Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) will play the professor's adopted brother and Ashton Holmes (A History of Violence) will play a Carnegie Mellon student.

"Initially, Smart People was going to be a novel," Poirier said. He changed his mind when he was invited to be a part of the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project, which offers fiction, theater, and film writers the opportunity to begin a career in screenwriting. Instead of a novel, he turned Smart People into a film. Poirier sold Smart People to Universal Focus Features after his fellowship.

"I lived with the characters for awhile in my head first before I wrote the screenplay," said Poirier. "It is not a true story, but it is based off of my experiences in academia."

Smart People is Poirier's first screenplay – he has two novels, Goats and Modern Ranch Living – and he believes that it is more concentrated on the characters rather than the plot.

"It is light on plot and heavy on character," Poirier explained. "It is about [Lawrence Wetherhold, Quaid's character] reconnecting with the world, including his kids, colleagues, etc."

Smart People is also the first film that Murro is directing, as he is used to making commercials for companies such as Nike and Adidas.

"I want everyone to know that we worked really hard to make Smart People both funny and moving at the same time," said Murro.

Poirier thinks that Carnegie Mellon lends itself to the qualities he and Murro looked for in Smart People.

"We knew we wanted a college that was a selective one. We also want the movie to be funny and authentic. I believe that CMU really has these qualities," Poirier explained. "I studied at Johns Hopkins, and it seems like they are very similar schools. It seems real here."

Carl Kent, a Production Assistant who worked on both The Mothman Prophecies and Wonder Boys before Smart People, loves working with films.

"It is so interesting to see how the movie is put all together when I finally view it at the theater," said Kent. "I am usually regulating traffic and keeping it quiet on the set, but I still get to observe a lot of what is going on."

According to Producer Bridget Johnson (Jerry McGuire, As Good as It Gets), Carnegie Mellon has been very accommodating.

"It has been fantastic here so far, and [Carnegie Mellon staff member] Sophie Nassif has been a huge help as a liaison between us and the CMU community," said Johnson. "She has helped us get all the approvals we needed."

"The students have been really cooperative and nice as well," Poirier added.

Carnegie Mellon students have been asked to help out with Smart People as extras, production assistants, and interns, according to Marilyn Kail, Carnegie Mellon's Assistant VP for Marketing Communications.

SHS sophomore Eileen Tucker said she was lucky to have been picked as an extra for Smart People.  

"It was one of those things where I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and they asked us to be extras," said Tucker, who appeared in a scene with Quaid in Hamburg Hall. "They were shooting a scene with Dennis Quaid walking down the hallway and another professor was trying to catch up to him to give him a letter."

According to Tucker, it took a lot of preparation time even for this short scene: "They basically took us two at a time and positioned us in various rooms in the hallway and showed us where to walk when they began filming. We practiced maybe three or four times before the filming began. They shot the actual scene four times. Each time the director would make Dennis or the other actress change a facial expression or something like that."

Although the scene was only four minutes long, Tucker said it took over an hour to perfect. However, Tucker didn't mind the long hours.

"They were all great to work with," she said, "and it was a really interesting experience."

Resident Advisor and CFA senior Alicia Pompei has also been able to observe some of the filming in Donner Hall where she lives.  

"The kitchen and laundry room are offline due to the noise," said Pompei. "The crew also built a large imitation of a dorm room where the dining room was, which is pretty realistic and cool to see."

Smart People is scheduled to be released sometime in 2007, and Carnegie Mellon has requested a screening on campus before the release date.

The campus community was well-informed and excited about this opportunity for the University. The filming locations for Smart People have included Baker Hall (November 6-9), Hamburg Hall (November 9), Hunt Library (November 10), the Wean/Porter/Hamerschlag parking area (November 10), Skibo Gymnasium and Donner Hall (November 13-14), and Doherty Hall (November 15). Additional filming took place in Baker Hall on November 19. Film crews will return to Hunt Library to conclude their work on campus December 5 and perhaps one other day this semester. The filming dates and set-up and teardown hours are subject to change as necessary. City parking on Frew and Margaret Morrison Streets have been limited during filming days.

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