Set visit: 'Sorority Row'

I took a detour today off the TV beat for a brief layover on the movie beat with a set visit to "Sorority Row," a new thriller. Post-Gazette photographer Andy Starnes and I were on the set in Oakland today as a red-haired, pig-tail-extensioned Rumer Willis (pictured, right) appeared for the graduation scene. Her character, Ellie, was described by a member of the production as the intellectual among the sorority sisters in the movie.

The film is meant to take its events seriously but at the same time looks at sorority culture in a more humorous light:

"It's Laura Ashley by day and lingerie parties by night," said director Stewart Hendler. He said the film will emphasize character because "it doesn't matter when you kill them off if you're not invested in them."

Several main characters were seated side by side for the graduation scene, including good-time girl Claire (Jamie Chung, pictured left), party girl Chugs (Margo Harshman, center in the photo) and grande dame Jessica (Leah Pipes, on the right in the photo).

Actor Julian Morris, who plays a new character on "ER" this season, addressed the graduating class in a scene that took about two hours to film. A camera hung from a crane in front of him and then rotated around his head until it was filming the crowd from over his shoulder.

Morris (pictured, right), who is British, performed the role using an American accent that was pretty flawless.

Actress Carrie Fisher ("Star Wars") plays the mother of the sorority house, and reality TV veteran Audrina Patirdge, who appears as herself on MTV's "The Hills," also has a role. Neither were on the set today.

Although the original "House on Sorority Row" was considered a horror flick, Hendler and others described the new version as more of a thriller.

"I'm a big believer that less is more and less is often scarier," Hendler said. The film, which is expected to be R-rated nonetheless, will also have some self-aware humor. "I pitched it as ‘Mean Girls' meets ‘Scream.'  "

For scenes shot in Homestead, a sorority house catches on fire but the production didn't actually burn down any buildings. Flame bars were set 4 feet from the house and filmed from down the block. Additional flames will be added in post-production.

"No houses caught on fire in the making of this movie," Karz said. "But it'll look like all of Homestead is on fire when we get done with the special effects," said Karz (pictured, left).

Two Web sites go behind the scenes of the movie:

-- Writer Josh Stolberg is blogging about the making of the movie.

-- And the Web site BloodyDisgusting.com shows some of the prosthetic effects from the movie, but be warned, one "Sorority Row" post includes a spoiler, albeit, a fairly predictable one.

"We have a great prosthetics guy," Karz said. "He's made bodies of several different actresses in the movie. Several of the actresses came and saw the prosthetics and were surprised by how close the resemblance was."