Last winter, the founders of Lambda Epsilon Omega fraternity
took over the UCLA campus, manipulating their pledges above
Kerckhoff Patio and running amok around Royce quad.
The men were not here for long, but not because they were kicked
out by the inter-fraternity council for hazing; rather, the members
of the fraternity disbanded themselves once their roles were
completed.
With Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn as the founders
of LEO, it should come as no surprise that the fraternity is not
one of the typical Greek organizations housed on Gayley Avenue.
The fictitious fraternity, which is created by the characters
the three men play in the new comedy, “Old School,” was
filmed predominantly on the UCLA campus last year, and opens in
theatres today.
In the film, the three actors play struggling middle-aged men
who decide to have some fun by throwing a wild house party next to
a local campus. One thing leads to another and before they know it,
their first pledge class is already forming and running errands
around town.
Unlike typical fraternities, the pledges of LEO consist of
everyone from young boys to a 90 year-old man, with the fraternity
probably being a little more accepting than most other fraternities
on the row. Poking fun at fraternity stereotypes, “Old
School” bubbles with a humor reminiscent of earlier college
films from the ’80s such as “Revenge of the
Nerds” or even “Animal House.”
Although the film’s three lead actors all play fraternity
brothers in the film, Ferrell, a brother of Delta Tau Delta, a
fraternity that also has a colony at UCLA, is the only star of the
movie who was once involved with Greek life while in college.
According to Ferrell, the hazing in the movie is quite different
and more extreme than what he actually underwent in real life. He
teased about the many misconceptions that some may still have about
fraternity practices.
“When I was in a fraternity, I never saw anything that
severe. I would get yelled at and stuff, and I embezzled a lot of
money. I was on the lamb for a year and a half. We sold
arms,” Ferrell joked.
“I’ve lived some variation of what you see.
I’ve also run naked before, sadly enough, so I was able to
draw on that sort of thing,” said Ferrell.
According to Wilson, Ferrell also had to rely on some liquid
courage to help him film in the nude.
“Will flew in his acting coach from Kentucky, “˜Jim
Bean,’ that night, and he’s a naturalist. That’s
the kind of thing where it makes it impressive to work with Will
that he has the guts do something like that,” said
Wilson.