Amazing news! After a long hard search for a real genetics lab in which to film—marked by far more enthusiasm from scientists than administrators—we’ve finally found a location for “SEYMOUR’s lab.”
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA approved us to film the lab scenes in Dr. Andreas Pfenning’s genetics lab. We had a video walk through today and are super excited about how it will look on screen. Adding two travel days to our schedule is a small price to pay for such an amazing location and new production partner.
Still from ANYA with DR. SEYMOUR LIVINGSTON (Motell Foster) and RIKA ENDO (Olivia Oguma) in Dr. Andreas Phenning’s lab. Still from ANYA by Jacob Okada.
Andreas Pfenning is a computational genetics colleague of our science advisor, Ruth McCole. He read the script and gave us feedback a few months ago on the pros and cons of using the FOX-P2 gene (which he studies) as the site of the Narvals’ unique (fictional) genetic variant. Like Ruth, Ting, and pgEd, Andreas seems to really get the value of making genetics more accessible through film.
Thankfully Carrie Chisholm in CMU’s Marketing & Communications Office agrees and has helped make it possible for us to film on campus July 27th and 28th.
I (Carylanna) grew up in Pittsburgh and am pleased but not surprised by CMU’s willingness to work with us. They’re renowned for science and drama. Something I’ve admired since taking acting classes there in high school.
What’s more to love, the building where we’ll be filming (CMU’s Mellon Institute) stood in for City Hall in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.
Tom Hardy as Bane in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action thriller "The Dark Knight Rises," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. TM & © DC Comics. Photo by Ron Phillips. CMU site.
SEYMOUR (Motell Foster) enters the lobby of CMU’s Mellon Institute in ANYA. Note that this is the inside of the door seen in “The Dark Knight Rises” image (above). We opted to leave the “Mellon College of Science” carpet in place as an Easter egg and thank you to CMU. Still from ANYA by Jacob Okada.