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Yes, the University of Wisconsin has played host to several movie productions in addition to 30-plus films, documentary shorts and TV movies and series that have been shot in the Madison area. The most recent was The Last Kiss written by Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby and Crash) and starring Zach Braff (Garden State and Scrubs), Rachel Bilson (The O.C.), Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson and Jacinda Barrett. Most of the movie was filmed in Montreal, Canada, but Lakeshore Entertainment CEO and producer Tom Rosenberg ’68 and executive producer Andre Lamal ’66, MA’70, wanted the story to be set in Madison, a fondly remembered stomping ground for the two who met on campus. They brought the cast and crew to Madison in the summer of 2006 for filming at the Union Terrace, Bascom Hill and State Street. Other major motion pictures with UW connections include For Keeps? (1988), starring Molly Ringwald as a pregnant teen, and Rodney Dangerfield’s Back to School (1986), the tale of a hedonistic businessman who enrolls in college to inspire his son and relive the good times. Most of its outdoor scenes were shot on the UW-Madison campus, referred to in the film as Grand Lakes University. Still other film storylines have been set on the UW campus, but were not filmed here. For example, The Prince & Me (2004), the story of a free-spirited Wisconsin university student who falls in love with a Danish prince, was filmed primarily in Canada and Denmark.

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