Now that you have heard the rumors, here are the facts. Disney has come to Bentley for one day to film three scenes for their upcoming movie “The Game Plan”, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Walking Tall, Gridiron Gang) and Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer). Most of the day Saturday, the set crew came down to make some adjustments to the Dana Center athletic facility. Preparations included hanging “Boston Rebels” banners and painting a locker room to fit the team’s colors of the movie. On the actual day of filming Disney used the second floor conference room, weight room and locker room as sets for the scenes. In the movie, Johnson plays bachelor quarterback Joe Kingman, who is living the high life of a premier athlete and is a local fan favorite. As the story develops, Kingman finds out he has a seven-year-old daughter from a previous relationship and cares for her while trying to win football games. Kingman’s agent, played by Sedgwick, is suspicious of the child and thinks that someone is trying to scam some money out of the quarterback. The movie is reported to have something for everyone, and is a movie in which everyone will be able to find humor. Johnson especially can bring comedy to the silver screen because he is able to find the laugh and knows how to translate humor from the script to laughs in the theatre.

Disney chose Bentley mainly because of its superior athletic facility. Originally the scenes shot at Bentley were to be filmed at Gillette Stadium. However, The Rock tore his Achilles tendon at the beginning of filming, which resulted in the movie being postponed eight weeks. Due to the schedule change Gillette’s availability was compromised and the filmmakers had to look for other options for some of the shots, which led them to the newly renovated Dana Center.

But even after Disney decided to film at Bentley, a great deal of work went into making the filming a success. Director of Administrative Services Rob Webb remarked “Disney filming on campus was certainly great exposure for Bentley. However, it couldn’t have been done without the campus-wide support that was given to this project. Many people were involved and special thanks should go to the staff at The Conference Center, Facilities Management, Campus Police, Student Activities, Media Services, and of course, the entire staff at the Dana Center.”

In addition to Bentley, Disney filmed in downtown Boston, College of the Holy Cross’s Fitton Stadium, Framingham, Westwood, Laurence, Gloucester, Worchester, and Addison Gilbert Hospital. The cast and crew consisted of a staff of approximately 250 people and included over 5,000 extras, many of whom were locals.

If any of you are going to check out the movie when it comes out, keep an eye out for scenes where the Rebels are viewing game film. This scene was shot on the second floor of the Dana Center in the conference room.
credit: the vanguard at Bentely college