New movie – “The Assassination of a High School President”

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out there’s a film crew 20 days into shooting for a new movie starring Bruce Willis, Mischa Barton and Reece Thompson.

But several members of the crew of about 100 say that after weeks of shooting largely inside Bayonne High School, today is the first day they’ve been out in the sun — and getting some attention from the locals.

“I like the little old ladies that come by and ask, what’s going on here?” said Karen Neasi, product placement coordinator for the film, as she watched crew members prepare a car for filming near the corner of 46th Street and Avenue C.

When she tells them they’re filming a movie, she said, they reply, “Well, have fun!”

The film, which has two working titles – “The Assassination of a High School President” and “The Sophomore” – tells the story of a sophomore newspaper reporter (Thompson) trying to unravel a case of stolen SAT exams, according to one production assistant, who asked his name be withheld because he wasn’t supposed to talk to reporters.

Thomas Deckaj, another PA, described it as a dark comedy with film noir elements. The other PA said Thompson’s character doubles as a narrator, and Willis — who, crew members say, left weeks ago after four days of filming at the high school — plays a high school principal.

Bayonne is a good location for a variety of reasons, said Deckaj, who lives in Bayonne.

“It’s close to (New York City),” he said. “They have a really nice looking high school. It works for the movie.”