Disney’s ‘Chang Can Dunk’ Stamford screening celebrates CT students, teachers who were extras

More than 200 people attended the pre-screening, which Disney hosted to recognize the extras and crew members from Connecticut. Attendees beamed as they posed for the camera on the mini red carpet outside the theater and next to the movie posters scattered throughout the venue. 

Paige Jockers, a drum major and student at Frank Scott Bunnell High School in Stratford, was one of the 55 marching band members from Bunnell who appeared in the film. The movie's main characters, Chang, Kristy and Bo, are all in a marching band. 

“It was cool to be a part of something that showcases marching band in such a positive way, especially on Disney,” Jockers said. 

Filming took place in Stamford, Bridgeport, Milford and Stratford from October to December 2021. In those months, the movie employed 114 crew members, hired 257 background actors and supported 105 vendors, an event organizer said.

Westhill High School in Stamford was one of the major filming locations. Principal Michael Rinaldi, an attendee at Thursday's event, and the Westhill staff redecorated the school’s gymnasium, hallways and banners last year to look like the fictional Cresthill High School. Disney also invited the owners of the homes used for the film, the Boys and Girls Club of Stamford and employees from Stratford Public Works, the Stamford Town Center and other businesses. 

Caroline Simmons, the mayor of Stamford, said that the project exemplifies the "booming industry" of art and media in the state. 

Bunnell High School's director of bands Jim Miller — sporting the same tie he had worn when receiving his Stratford Teacher of the Year honor — prepared the drill formations and wrote the musical arrangements for the film’s marching band performances, which occur in some of the most pivotal scenes of the movie, he said. 

The film was shot at Bunnell for a total of four days during the school’s annual Cavalcade of Bands competition, Miller said. He spent that fall preparing his students for both the competition and a movie shoot, a new experience for the band director of 37 years.

“It was like having two bands at one time. And the kids..they were amazing. They learned all this new material. And we had a special practice every week just for those kids,” he said.

Miller also gave two months of drum lessons to one of the main actors Zoë Renee, who plays Kristy, a drummer and Chang’s crush. He said Jingyi Shao, the film's director, did an “incredible job” making the band performances look authentic. 

“When I took this on, I said to them,‘Listen, I'm going to do this, but I have to be promised that it's going to look right. I can't have the audience seeing one thing and hearing something else,'" he said. "It's really important to me because marching bands in film and in commercials, more often than not, don't look like what they're playing."

While the film played in the Avon's 250-seat theater, members of the crowd whispered when a familiar location appeared on the screen. One of the most anticipated moments occurred at end, when many students whipped out their cameras to catch their name in the film the credits.

Deanna Cronin, a Bunnell alumna and snare drummer, was Renee’s body double during filming at Bunnell and would take her place in some shots of Kristy playing the drums. Watching the movie on the big screen was a "very surreal" experience, Cronin said.

“It’s something that doesn’t really happen to very many people,” Cronin said.

Christopher Koch, the assistant principal at Bunnell, recalled bringing his kids to a film shoot involving a crowd of Bunnell community members, who braved the cold to be background extras in one of the scenes, he said.

“The great thing about it is it really spreads just beyond the band. The whole student body was so excited about the opportunity,” he said. 

In February, Miller and the band members were invited to attend the movie premiere at Walt Disney Studios in California and performed in a parade on Disneyland’s Main Street, Miller said. 

“Teachers are always looking for ways to give their students assignments that are real-world experience. It's not just something theoretical or on paper or in the classroom,” he said. "Well, there's no greater real-world experience than actually doing what these kids did, which was performing the film.” 

Miller believes the film’s message will also resonate with the students. 

“You apply yourself, which is what I tell the students all the time. If you have a dream, a vision of what you want, you can make that happen, but you just have to put the work in. And that's key,” he said. 

In a video message before the screening, director Jingyi Shao thanked everyone in the audience.

“Without you, Chang would not have been able to fly,” he said.