Lights, Camera, Lakers: Clayton State discusses successful history as on-site filming location

(August 12, 2024) - While touring Clayton State and enjoying its vibrant lakes, quiet park-like setting, and diverse architecture, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to picture the university being featured in a hit summer movie.

And that’s because Clayton State University has provided the scenery for past summer blockbusters.

While showing prospective students around campus, this is often one of the favorite talking points of Prof. Jonathan Harris, chair of the Dept. of Film, Communication, and Performing Arts (FCPA).

“I've given tours where, before it even got out of my mouth, they knew that scenes from ‘Captain America: Civil War’ had been shot in the University center,” Harris said. “They will actually tell me they know, and I don't know if they looked it up before they came or not. But they are very excited when they find out.”

Believe it or not, yes, Disney Marvel shot scenes for “Captain America: Civil War” in Clayton State’s James M. Baker University Center in the mid-2010s.

So, while walking to class in the prolific building, Lakers can learn a fun bit of trivia in knowing that Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Black Panther, and Black Widow also enjoyed the campus when it was the host site of one of the movie’s most intense fight scenes. 

“I think it absolutely helps with recruitment in the Film Production program,” Harris said. “It's wonderful to see them light up when they go through there and see where that film and others have been shot.”

Of course, “Civil War” isn’t the only blockbuster movie to be filmed at Clayton State.

The Student Activities Center has also been transformed into the “Addison Correctional Facility” in Chicago, Illinois, during the shooting of Melissa McCarthy’s “The Boss,” where she famously hit her lawyer in the throat with a tennis ball on the university’s tennis courts.

 “Jumanji: The Next Level,” “Haunted Mansion,” “The Beanie Bubble,” “True Lies,” and numerous other pictures have also been filmed on campus over the past decade.

Bizarrely enough, the university has even been transformed into another university for shooting.

Such was the case when Clayton State University became Clemson University in Disney’s 2020 film, “Safety."

“That was one of the weirdest experiences,” Harris said. “So, Clayton State stands in for Clemson ... there’s a huge Clemson banner outside the University Center. It was the strangest day.”

Assoc. Director of Film and Events Tommy Stein said he’s seen “probably 90%” of the sets built on campus since he began working with film companies in 2015.

Stein credited former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal with the upward trajectory of the state’s impact in film and cinema, saying incentives and previously established infrastructure in Georgia helped sway filmmakers and companies to choose the Peach State over Hollywood when determining where to shoot their pictures.

But the boom created by films from Disney Marvel and Netflix was something he didn’t expect when Gov. Deal’s incentives were presented to filmmakers almost 10 years ago.

And while working as a bridge between the university and external film studios, Stein said he has seen and heard some particularly strange things on campus that would’ve never been possible without the influx of Atlanta-based filmmaking.

He particularly credited rapper Lil Yachty for indirectly creating some of the funniest moments he’s ever seen on campus – especially after a student eagerly trying to meet him was caught by his security team during the filming of “How High 2.”

“He kind of hunches down and starts to move towards [Lil Yachty],” Stein said. “All of a sudden, this mountain of a man steps out of nowhere and just stands there. That student looked at him and scurried away as fast as he could move.”

But aside from the stars who visit campus or the big-screen exposure, Stein believes Clayton State University’s biggest benefit in being a premier Atlanta filming location is the opportunities it presents for Film students in both their academic and professional careers.

“Every opportunity I have, I pull students on [set],” Stein said. “They’re basically glorified bystanders, but they get to see everything first-hand and network with people. Because we do so much filming, by being a Film student, you automatically have a higher opportunity to get on a film set before you graduate and start making some real connections.”

Harris couldn’t agree more, saying he green-lights any chance he has to provide students with first-hand exposure and experience in the industry.

He further added that panelists from film studios will even come to campus and directly talk with students “face to face” for further engagement and workforce immersion.

 “We’ve had outreach from companies like Company 3 – a huge post-production effects and production company in Buckhead,” Harris said. “They have extended invitations to their mentoring program and their internship program. We’ve also been working closely with Bluestar Studios in Forest Park. They’ve been so receptive to working with the university and our students.”

And additionally, in terms of the film location business, Harris sees no end in sight for Clayton State University.

He believes that as cameras continue to roll in the years to come, more of them will have their focus set on the institution’s serene campus.

“I expect it to grow,” Harris said. “Having Blue Star Studios open up right near campus, it’s going to help the partnerships we have with film studios and the Georgia Film Academy. All of that is leading to greater recognition of what a fantastic place Clayton State is to film.”

 

Photography credited to Film Production Alumna Madelena Phan