By LUCY DIECKHAUS

News Editor

CHERIE LEJEUNE

The Maroon

Even without an appearance by Channing Tatum, students, staff and faculty showed up to the sculpture garden Tuesday to watch the filming of “22 Jump Street.”

Sony Pictures Entertainment took over the sculpture garden on Tuesday night to capture scenes for the upcoming film “22 Jump Street,” set at the fictitious Metropolitan City State College. The movie will be in theaters June 2014.

The film is directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who also directed “21 Jump Street.”

Producer Neal H. Moritz said, “Loyola University has opened their arms to our ’22 Jump Street’ cast and crew with their Southern hospitality. The beautiful Loyola campus, with its unique sculpture garden, works perfectly as a backdrop for our film,” producer Neal Montz said.

Some members of the cast who were present on Tuesday night for filming were Jonah Hill, Amber Stevens, Kenny Lucas, Keith Lucas and Craig Roberts. They play fellow college students alongside Hill.

On Monday, temporary sculptures for the film began to show up in Loyola’s sculpture garden – or as “22 Jump Street” renamed the area, the Meditation Sculpture Garden.

New structures were added to the current fixtures and one structure was extended to accommodate for the filming of the scene.

Filming will continue for another month, but the crew is in their fourth week of filming for this production. Most of the production will be filmed in New Orleans, but crews are also headed to Puerto Rico.

65 extras were used in the scenes shot on Tuesday night, and these extras were chosen by the Coulon Casting Inc. weeks prior to the film.

One of the assistant directors addressed the Loyola students by asking them to be courteous to the crew and cast, but he invited them to stay and watch the filming.

“We want you to be invested in the project,” he said. “We’re on your home turf, so thank you. We just ask that there’s no flash photography once we’re rolling.”

Meredith Hartley, director of Loyola public affairs, said the “22 Jump Street” crew and Loyola have had a reciprocal relationship.

“Hosting a feature film on our campus presents some challenges, but the production company has been very gracious in accommodating our requests and we’re working to make sure they get what they need to make movie magic,” Hartley said.

Students have mixed opinions about the filming of “22 Jump Street” on Loyola’s campus.

Austin Hummel, economics sophomore, said he believes the new temporary structures have caught the attention of the Loyola students.

“It’s like how Monroe used to be they’re ugly, but it’s something to talk about,” Hummel said.

Rachel Schmidlin, international business sophomore, was among the group of students that gathered near the Sculpture Garden to watch the filming. She said that the students were advised by the crew to be courteous of any noise.

“Someone told us that the quieter we are, the longer we can stay here,” Schmidlin said.

Maragaret Duzame, general studies freshman, said she wanted to come out to see the actors.

“I always wanted to be in movies, and who doesn’t love creeping on Channing Tatum,” she said.

Lucy Dieckhaus can be reached at [email protected]

and Cherie Lejeune can be reached at [email protected].