Ohio State campus provides as backdrop for thriller ‘The Tank’

Madeline Poedtke
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 15:35:05 +0000
Campus, casting call, extras, film crews, paranormal activity, the tank

Ohio State’s campus might seem a bit more thrilling this week.

Since Tuesday, film crews have been on campus shooting a thriller titled “The Tank.”

Various locations across OSU’s campus have been selected as the backdrop for scenes, including the RPAC, Physical Activities & Education Services, Fisher College, McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, Don Scott airport, the Adventure Recreation Center, Archie Griffin Ballroom and WOSU@COSI.

On Friday, a casting call for extras surfaced on social media, including Facebook and Reddit.

Included in the casting call was a synopsis of the feature: “On April 26, 2012, six people entered into an isolated confined environment with the mission to simulate a trip to Mars.”

The filmmakers of “The Tank” had a part in horror flicks “Paranormal Activity” and “Insidious,” according to the casting call.

In an email, OSU’s director of national broadcast media Joe Camoriano said he helped coordinate all of the campus locations for the movie and provided The Lantern with the names of two actors.

“A couple of notable actors in the movie include Jack Davenport (‘Pirates of the Caribbean’) and Christopher McDonald (‘Happy Gilmore’) among others,” Camoriano said.

Sherrie Adams, assistant to the film’s director Kellie Madison, said the choice to film part of the movie on OSU’s campus was a “no-brainer.”

“When they were looking for different locations for the film, they (found) that OSU would be a good location to look at and, sure enough, it’s a gorgeous location,” Adams said. “There are so many cool hallways and cool little spaces that actually look very official and very governmental.”

Adams, who is also responsible for casting extras for the film, said the online casting call has proven effective thus far.

“We’ve been getting a good response from people who want to be extras, mostly students,” Adams said.

Gary Sukienik, a second-year in biology, said he saw a link to the casting call post on Reddit in an OSU Facebook page and decided to email Adams.

“I initially (thought) it’d be a really cool experience to be a part of a movie set, even as an extra,” Sukienik said. “My dad told me a story about when he was in college. He was an extra in a movie called ‘Playing for Keeps,’ in like 1984, so it’s cool to be a part of something like that.”

“The Tank” is set to wrap up on-campus filming May 6 and Adams said other parts of the movie will be filmed in Granville, Ohio.