My old high school, Quincy High School will be the set for a new movie starring Kevin James

By Jack Encarnacao

QUINCY —The city has reached an agreement with Columbia Pictures to rent out the old Quincy High School building for a movie shoot.

The interior of the vacant school, which is next to the new high school on Coddington Street, will be the setting for scenes that are tentatively scheduled to be filmed starting next month, said Christopher Walker, a spokesman for Mayor Thomas Koch.

The deal, signed by Koch and Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. of California, calls for the city to receive $80,000 in rental fees for use of the old high school from February 2 until August 26.Walker said Koch will earmark the $80,000 to benefit the school department’s music program.

A separate term of the deal allows Columbia to rent additional city property at a rate of $3,333 per day.The agreement includes a term that requires Columbia to provide the city evidence that it’s secured no less than $1 million in general liability insurance for the shoot. It also bars any party to the agreement from claiming damages.

Built in 1922, the old high school was targeted by the city for demolition this summer. It’s not yet clear if those plans will have to change, Walker said, because it’s not clear when the crew will be finished shooting in the building.

According to the agreement, the movie to be filmed is titled “Here Comes The Boom.”Movie industry media have tied that title to a movie that will star the comic actor Kevin James. James has shot several movies in Massachusetts, including scenes for the sleeper hit “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree.

James said in an interview last year that he’s scheduled to start work on a movie about a high school teacher who moonlights as a professional fighter in an effort to save the school’s music program.

The shoot would not be the first time Quincy has provided the backdrop to a Hollywood production.

Scenes for the Boston-based films “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Departed” were shot in the city’s quarries and shipyard. In 2009, Actor Ben Affleck shot scenes for “The Company Men” on a residential street in Quincy Point.

 

The Patriot Ledger, Feb 4, 2011

Jack Encarnacao may be reached at jencarnacao@ledger.com.Copyright 2011 The Patriot Ledger. Some rights reserved

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