Upamanyu Biswas
In the 2020 spy comedy, ‘My Spy,’ a hardened CIA operative, Jason Jones, also known as JJ, gets tangled in the personal affairs of his surveillance target, Kate. After finding out JJ’s real identity, the young, precocious daughter of Kate, Sophie, blackmails the grizzled veteran into training her to become a spy and accompany her wherever she goes. Subsequently, JJ visits Sophie’s Chicago elementary school, Oak Tree Charter, at a parent’s get-together event, where he garners the attention of the crowd and helps Sophie make some new friends. The school’s pivotal role in Sophie’s development is illustrated through her lack of friends and her desperate longing to escape her loneliness!
The Fictional Genesis of Oak Tree Charter
Oak Tree Charter in ‘My Spy’ is a fictional elementary school in Chicago, Illinois. It was created by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber, who penned the screenplay for the action comedy film. It serves as a backdrop to JJ’s awkward interactions with the other parents of Sophie’s grade during the Parents & Special Friends Day event, where the girl takes him along because her mother cannot come. As a child of a single-parent household, she is often alone and left out of gatherings with her peers, causing a sense of loneliness and desperation within her. She badly wants friends, even though, thus far, Oak Tree’s environment has led to none. Fortunately, bringing JJ along helps her break certain barriers as she uses his influence to start conversations among the other students.
While Oak Tree Charter doesn’t exist in real-life Chicago, two establishments named Oak Tree Elementary School can be found at 226 Applegarth Road in Monroe Township, New Jersey, and 505 West Houston Avenue in Gilbert, Arizona. Both are public schools located within a large suburban area and have a decent student population of at least 400 enrolled elementary kids. However, while they share a name with the eponymous school in ‘My Spy,’ they differ in their urban locale and setting. Oak Tree Charter, in the movie, is set in the vibrant center of Chicago, providing access to leisure centers. For instance, both JJ and Sophie meet several of Sophie’s classmates at a skating rink nearby, where the young girl, again, has a hard time making acquaintances.
Shooting for the Peter Segal directorial took place in Toronto, Ontario. As such, the production crew filmed the elementary school scenes at an establishment located within the city, which seamlessly represents the scenic backdrop of Chicago’s school life. Although Oak Tree Charter makes a small appearance in the grand scheme of the narrative, it emphasizes the struggles Sophie is going through before JJ comes into her life. Owing to her developed sense of intelligence and street smartness, she is able to overcome any challenge except making friends. Blackmailing JJ is her last resort to gain some new people to talk to at school, while her mother remains busy all the time because of her work. However, the elementary school remains a fictional construction where neither Sophie nor anyone else can attend classes.
Read More: My Spy: Unveiling the Locations Where the Movie Was Filmed
