College campuses are often void of activity during summertime without the influx of students that come with the academic year. But this was not the case on the State University of New York at Purchase campus this past summer.

Over the course of four weeks, parts of the Purchase campus were transformed into a Vietnam War-era United States Army base for the production of the critically acclaimed film “The Post,” directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, the film recounts the 1970s efforts of The Washington Post to publish the Pentagon Papers, a series of classified documents detailing U.S. involvement in Vietnam. “The Post” was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award Tuesday, and Streep received a nomination for best actress.

Keisha Martin, SUNY Purchase’s director of conference planning, said the college is a popular destination for film and TV productions due to its proximity to New York City and 500-acre campus.

“They just called one day and told me what they were looking for,” Martin said, detailing the production process. “The areas that they were filming in are spaces that aren’t really frequently used by the college at all.”

The majority of the four weeks the crew spent on campus were spent transforming an overgrown meadow into the lush, jungle landscapes found in Vietnam. Martin said the crew brought in hundreds of palm trees and other plants to add to the forest area but only filmed for two days.

After production finished on the campus, the production crew donated the plants and palm trees to the college. Many of them have found a new home in several of the college’s academic buildings.

The four-week timeline for that part of the film is not uncommon, said Paula Halperin, board of study coordinator for Purchase’s cinema studies department and associate professor of Latin American history.

“There is not such a thing as an average shoot,” Halperin said. “Most Hollywood films take from 45 days to three months of shooting (in total).”

Purchase faculty and students were not able to be involved with the shoot due to the summertime scheduling. Under normal circumstances, Martin said, college officials ask production teams if students can work on shoots as production assistants.

“There are opportunities for our students to learn outside of the classroom, and that would have been a perfect one,” Martin said. “Unfortunately, there weren’t a whole lot around.”

“The Post,” which was named one of the top 10 films of 2017 by the American Film Institute and Time Magazine, premiered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 14 and was released nationwide on Jan. 12.

Martin said it’s nice to have high-profile films use the Purchase campus as a location, especially considering the college’s well-regarded film program, which boasts several alumni working both on screen and behind the camera in Hollywood.

The Purchase campus will continue to be a prominent location for film and television productions in the near future, Martin said, adding that “Madam Secretary” recently requested a location scout. Other shows, including Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle,” also make frequent use of the college’s Performing Arts Center.

“I think it’s always nice when there are guests on campus that bring a little different life,” Martin said.

Published on January 24, 2018 at 9:53 pm

Contact Jordan: jslazins@syr.edu