About Schmidt|University of Nebraska–Lincoln — Back at the Fraternity House

Somewhere in the middle of the drive Warren detours to his old university, walks up to the fraternity house he lived in half a century ago, and gets a polite blank stare from the students inside. He tells them he was a member. They have no idea what to do with him. It is the most quietly devastating stop on the whole trip.

The film calls the school the University of Kansas. It was shot at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, in Payne's home state, with the chapter house scene filmed at 1601 R Street on the north edge of campus. The Greek houses still line R Street and the surrounding blocks, big brick and stone piles with letters over the door, and City Campus around them is open to walk through — Love Library, the sunken plaza, Hamilton Hall, the stadium two blocks off.

Go on a weekday in term time. The students crossing R Street will look straight through you, exactly as they look through Warren, and the scene lands harder than it does on screen.

Photo: University of Nebraska–Lincoln campus, Wikimedia Commons.