It was near-impossible to miss the alterations to our campus over  the past weeks — Cranes, lights, mysterious equipment, oodles of marked semis. All in the name of an upcoming Glen Powell movie known as “The Comeback King.”

Some students are showing excitement, while others appear to be riding the experience out. But above all, everyone has questions.

Supervising location manager for “The Comeback King” John Latenser explains the production’s focus on Armstrong’s campus, “GSU Armstrong was chosen as the optimal location for our university scenes, due to its proximity to our production office in Savannah as well as its past experience in hosting film and television projects.”

To that note, the Health Professions Academic Building on campus was used in 2020 for the NBC series “Council of Dads.”

“The university’s communications and marketing department being extremely knowledgeable about the filmmaking process was a big factor in our decision.”

Latenser speaks on the benefit of filming active campus, simply being able to “make it fit into our schedule.”

He also explains the challenges of using a thriving, living campus for a production, “school is in session, so the film crew must follow a strict schedule and keeps its footprint from expanding beyond what is allowable, so that GSU Armstrong’s students can enjoy their day-to-day activities on campus, as well as focus on getting their education with as little disruption as possible.”

The broader Armstrong and Savannah communities have been abuzz with the activity of the film production, with Glen Powell visiting a local bar on April 13 and filming extending as far as Tybee Island.

Nonetheless, Latenser shares that, “the production of ‘The Comeback King’ would like the student body to know how much we appreciate being able to film on their campus during the school year and for helping make our project a success. The students have been overwhelmingly respectful and polite. We have truly enjoyed being guests at GSU Armstrong.”

Filming for “The Comeback King” has lasted since April 10, and is expected to conclude Friday, April 24.

In an announcement on GSU’s student Folio page, students are encouraged to reach out to Melanie Simón at [email protected] or Kendria Lee at [email protected] if they have further questions about the production.