Filming of 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2'
When the first call from a film location scout came into WestConn’s Office of University Relations in late April, it seemed like an interesting, isolated event. But as the days and weeks passed in early May, more and more calls came in from scouts representing major motion picture studios and star-studded productions.
Some had very isolated and specific needs. For example, the scout for the Leonardo DiCaprio-Kate Winslet film “Revolutionary Road” was looking for a doctor’s office/waiting room setting that had to be a certain size and convey a predetermined decade. No such luck on our campus.
Next was the Warner Brothers scout, looking for a college setting to film scenes for “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.” He spent two days here in the pouring spring rain, taking thousands of photographs of classrooms in every academic building — as well as dorm rooms, our athletic facilities and even shots of the landscaping on both campuses. He needed to find a location that could reasonably pass for the Rhode Island School of Design in exterior shots. He also needed an art studio that looked like it could be at RISD.
The photographs were uploaded to a production Web site from the film’s location office in Stamford so the director, location manager, set designer and others on the West Coast could take a look. Interested in what they saw, they booked a flight to Connecticut. After a few hours of pacing the quad and venturing into the third floor art studios in White Hall, it appeared that most of the crew liked WestConn for the shoot, but the director, Sanaa Hamri, wasn’t sure. They left without giving any indication if they’d be back.
Two months went by and scouts for other films came and went, but on July 12, the location manager for “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” called and said they wanted to begin filming at WestConn on July 18. The photos and news stories below capture the exciting three-day event.
