Comedy taps fraternity antics

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.