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Red Carpet Treatment Awarded to Auburn Student and Friends

Posted in Alumni, Auburn, Audio, Podcasts, Style and Design, student organizations by Kristina | Sunday, February 25th, 2007 | Trackback

Jessica Battles won the Student Alumni Association (SAA) drawing to attend the advanced screening of “Breach� as Eric O’Neill’s guest. Battles joined SAA only days before she was announced the winner of the contest. She chose two friends to accompany her at the red carpet event.

“Breach� is a motion picture starring Ryan Phillipe, Chris Cooper and Laura O'Neill and PhillipeLinney. Phillipe portrays Auburn graduate Eric O’Neill as he uncovers a sinister FBI spy named Robert Hanssen, played by Chris Cooper. O’Neill acts as detective, building a case against Hanssen, who had been U.S. intelligence secrets to the former Soviet Union and Russia since 1985. Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2002.

O’Neill revisits his alma mater to appear at Auburn’s red carpet screening of the film. Wife in arm, O’Neill arrives at the Mason Dixon Conference Center to pick up Jessica Battles and her chosen friends.

breach.jpgBattles said she didn’t know what to expect since she had never heard of “Breach.� She was pleasantly surprised when she discovered it was an FBI flick. She enjoys watching movies dealing with espionage and political intrigue. “Breach� was an FBI success story that evolved into a winning feature film.

Although based on a true story, Battles said the movie lacked spot on accuracy- especially when dealing with religious issues. O’Neill told Battles that Hollywood played with the Catholicism issue. Both Hanssen and O’Neill were Catholic, but neither are as devout as the movie made them appear. Hollywood’s artistic license extended so far that O’Neill graduated from Gonzaga, rather than Auburn, since it is a Catholic university.  See Eric O’Neill’s comment below for the clarification / correction.
Even though “Breach� failed to mention Auburn University by name, Eric O’Neill represented the loveliest village on the plains. Auburn audiences enjoyed the film, and Battles relished the red carpet treatment.

 
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One Response to “Red Carpet Treatment Awarded to Auburn Student and Friends”

  1. Eric Says:
    February 26th, 2007 at 1:53 pm

    Just a quick correction! In the movie, Hanssen tells Eric “You prepped at Gonzaga, with the Jesuits.” I am an alumni of Gonzaga “High School” — a college preparatory school in Washington, DC. The movie is NOT referring to Gonzaga University. I wouldn’t have let them change the name of my college!

    Juliana and I also very much enjoyed riding with Jessica and her friends to and from the Auburn screening. It was an excellent event by the SAA.

    WAR EAGLE!

    Eric O’Neill