Fanatic shrieks emanated from a crowd of hundreds of students as celebrities Zendaya Coleman and Robert Pattinson were spotted entering the Addison Gallery of American Art on October 30. Suspected to be filming an upcoming movie, titled “The Drama,” rumors of their visit began circulating the night before, prompting swarms of students and faculty to assemble outside the Addison, disrupting class time and other commitments.
Most students caught wind of the celebrities’ arrival through social media and clues outside the Addison. Helios Hong ’25 discussed how he came to realize the pair’s arrival on campus.
“A lot of people on my Instagram stories were posting [Zendaya and Robert Pattinson]. I thought it was just a rumor, but then… when I was eating with my friends, we were going on Instagram and going on her fan accounts and seriously stalking her to see if she was around the area. We saw that she was confirmed to be filming in Massachusetts in the Boston area, and we also heard that the Addison was closed for two days. The puzzle pieces all fit together,” said Hong.
As the news spread, more students began to flock to the Addison, many of whom had skipped class for the chance to witness the actor’s presence. Chloe Abou-Ezzi ’27 spoke about her experience trying to see Zendaya during her fifth and sixth period classes. Zendaya arrived earlier fifth period.
“I ‘went to the bathroom’ during fifth period, and I actually ran to the Addison… but she had already gone inside… [During sixth period], I literally sat [in class] dying inside. We had the window open so we could hear [students] cheering, so me and three of my friends in my class said, ‘Can we please go?’ and my Ethics teacher [said], ‘Do whatever you want, it’s a dice roll.’ We didn’t know what that meant, so we just sprinted out of the classroom,” said Abou-Ezzi.
Some teachers did end up canceling class due to student excitement and distraction. However, Elena Dugan, Instructor in Religious Studies and Philosophy, described how she used the event to better teach students a concept they were learning in class.
“In Hinduism, for thinking about a deity and for imagining a deity or telling stories about a deity, you want to look at a deity. It’s a concept called Darshan. Why do you need to go see Zendaya and take a grainy picture when you could see a beautiful picture of her in a beautiful dress?… What I ended up doing was I had my students all go and mill around… [but] I had them think about why people were so excited and why they themselves were so excited, and then I had them write up a response… I just redirected class towards what ended up being a weirdly amazing demonstration of the thing that we were learning,” said Dugan.
Filming the movie required coordination beforehand between Andover staff and the production company, A24 Films. The publicist of the movie declined an interview with The Phillipian and crew members were similarly prohibited from interviewing. Allison Kemmerer, Director of the Addison, detailed the logistics that went into creating sets and preparing for the shoot.
“Once we received the request from the location scout, there was much back and forth between Addison staff members and the scout and production company about what the filming would entail… After meeting with me, the Addison’s director of security, and the scout and producer, the school gave the green light to filming, and we then worked with different departments such as [the Office of the Physical Plant] and Public Safety to organize the actual shoot… The actual shoot consisted of three days. The first was devoted to preparation of sets, lighting, power, and general logistics. The second two days involved actual filming with the cast… It was quite a hub of activity!” wrote Kemmerer in an email to The Phillipian.
Kemmerer continued, “We bolstered our security staff so that all entrances and museum spaces were protected/monitored throughout the process… In some cases, we removed art in areas of high activity. In addition to shooting in the Museum Learning Center and a few offices, the rotunda, first floor hallway and gallery were used for several scenes. For the latter, we installed works from our collection specifically chosen by the director in consultation with our curator Gordon Wilkins… All signs within the museum were changed by the art production team, fake merchandise was placed in the museum shop, and as you probably saw, the exterior banners were temporarily switched out.”
This isn’t the first time film crews have come to Andover. In 2010, soon after Massachusetts passed tax incentives for films, the crew of “The Social Network,” a movie about the creation of Facebook, transformed the Flagstaff Quad into a snow-filled version of the Harvard Yard. Filming lasted a few days, taking place after dark. Tracy Sweet, Chief Communication Officer, and Neil Evans, Director of Digital Communications, elaborated on the intricate logistical work of the filming, and the educational opportunity that Andover was able to negotiate for the contract.
“A lot of the time, these companies do what they please when they come to a location… They had to take over the ice rink parking lot. They needed trailers for the actors, they needed space for the extras, so they used Susie’s. It’s just a lot more than we expected or we anticipated, but it all worked. The big piece is negotiating an education element. Everything [else] basically comes in, like we’re not in charge of feeding the crew… We are literally letting them use the space,” said Evans.
Sweet continued, “One of the things that we were able to do with ‘The Social Network’ that we think is important when and if we do this in the future is… to engage with either the actors or the producers or directors in a masterclass atmosphere. We were able to do that with ‘The Social Network’ where the director [and] producer David Fincher did a masterclass in Kemper Auditorium that was just open to students… It was really engaging and actually adds an element of a deeper education of what it’s like to work in these spaces and what it’s like to put on something of this magnitude.”
Aly Blakeney, Instructor in History and Social Sciences, while elaborating on her decision to cancel class or alter lesson plans, summed up the significance of the day for many students.
“The day that Hollywood comes to any teenager’s high school… [would] be a ‘forever’ memory for that student. I could either try to compete with that memory’s formation by holding class as normal, or I could speed up the inevitable and get to watch my students forget to be serious PA kids for a few minutes and simply enjoy being a gaggle of star-struck teens… That visit lifted spirits in realtime faster than butterbeer,” wrote Blakeney in an email to The Phillipian.
