Naman Shrestha
In ‘After the Hunt,’ Julia Roberts stars as Alma Olsson, a reputed philosophy professor at Yale University, whose reputation is on the brink of tarnishing when one of her bright students, Maggie Price, portrayed by Ayo Edebiri, comes out and accuses a professor named Henrik “Hank” Gibson of sexual assault. What makes matters more complicated is that Alma and Henrik, played by Andrew Garfield, are not only colleagues but longtime friends.
Amidst the grave accusation against Henrik, Alma’s dark past also begins to unravel, threatening her status at the university. Meanwhile, she tries to navigate the situation while standing at a personal and professional crossroads. Helmed by Luca Guadagnino, the psychological thriller film unfolds in and around the campus of Yale University and the characters’ residential properties, which represent their personalities through the placement and kinds of furniture present within the four walls.
After the Hunt Filming Locations
‘After the Hunt’ was primarily shot in England, especially in Cambridgeshire and Surrey. Since the story is set in New Haven, Connecticut, a few portions were filmed on location. As per reports, principal photography for the Andrew Garfield starrer got underway in early July 2024 and continued for six weeks before wrapping up around mid-August of the same year. The reason behind the production largely taking place in England was seemingly due to tax credits, but thanks to Luca Guadagnino’s attention to detail, they managed to realistically replicate the design of each set.
Cambridgeshire, England
A significant chunk of ‘After the Hunt’ was lensed in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, which is located in the East of England. In order to recreate the exteriors of Yale University, the production team set up camp at multiple colleges and universities, including the University of Cambridge on Trinity Lane in the city of Cambridge. The scene where Alma walks through a gate to the campus, along with numerous establishing shots, was shot at the university. Selwyn College, which is a constituent college of the university, and the Pitt Building on Trumpington Street were also redressed as buildings of Yale University. The cast and crew members were also reportedly spotted filming a few portions on the campus of Westminster College, located on Madingley Road near the University of Cambridge.
Surrey, England
Many pivotal sequences for ‘After the Hunt’ were also shot in the ceremonial county of Surrey, where the filming unit set up camp at Shepperton Studios on Studios Road near the village of Shepperton. They took over a total of nine sound stages and the backlot area to replicate the campus of Yale University, Alma and Frederik’s apartment, and other exteriors and interiors necessary to bring the narrative to life. In order to accurately portray the campus, the production designer, Stefano Baisi, traveled to New Haven, Connecticut, and visited Yale classrooms and offices. He also reportedly went to the outskirts of the city. In order to design Alma’s house, he took inspiration from the Dakota and Langham buildings, where ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ was shot.
Elaborating on the design of Alma’s house, Stefano told The Credits, “We wanted to tell a story through the way we treated their apartment, giving depth to the characters by evoking a sense of history. We figured Frederik inherited the apartment from his parents, who had inherited it from their grandparents, so we created three layers of time. The grandparents may have come from Europe, so they brought this kind of (minimalist) Bauhaus style to the apartment, which you see in the kitchen. Frederik’s parents lived there during the Jaqueline Kennedy era. After that, Fredrick and Alma wrote their personalities onto the apartment.”
In the backlot area of Shepperton Studios, they constructed the Indian restaurant from scratch, along with tarmac, signage, and sidewalks, mirroring an actual place located in New Haven. The production designer revealed that they also built an expansive campus quad that doubled as Yale University in the backlot. He added, “We used real iron for the fence, wood for the benches, and real grass. We did molds and used concrete to create the stone sidewalks. And the trees – part of them were built with Styrofoam-type material, which we painted.” According to reports, several other businesses and areas of New Haven were recreated on set in the film studio, including Woolsey Hall, Battell Chapel, Cody’s Diner, Three Sheets, faculty parking lots, bathrooms, and classrooms.
New Haven, Connecticut
‘After the Hunt’ features multiple local businesses and properties of New Haven, situated on New Haven Harbor. In August 2024, a few crew members visited the Tandoor restaurant at 1226 Chapel Street to take shots indoors as well as outdoors. They also captured several background shots in and around Three Sheets, located at 372 Elm Street, in the spring of 2024. A few other New Haven establishments and businesses that feature in the movie are Yale University’s Beinecke Plaza and Chapel West Liquors at 1183 Chapel Street.
Read More: Where Was Netflix’s Steve Filmed? All Shooting Locations
