Pictured Above: The Wagner Marching Band performing in a parade scene in the movie Okja

Staten Island, NY – The Wagner College Marching Band, under the direction of Jose Luis Diaz, Jr., can now be seen in the action drama Okja, a movie that was released on the internet streaming service Netflix today.


"Last summer, 40 members of the Wagner College Seahawk marching band traveled down to Wall Street and spent the day filming for a Netflix project we didn't know very much about," said Diaz Jr. "We only knew the title was OKJA and Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal were both involved in some way. The band participated in a parade scene, filming for over 12 hours. The students and I are all very excited to see ourselves in this film." 

 
The 50 million dollar multilingual monster movie includes the Seahawk band performing in a parade scene on Wall Street and features a Korean female lead and a cast of English-speaking supporting actors, including Swinton, Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins, Steven Yeun, and Paul Dano. The plot centers on a young girl named Mija who risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend — a massive animal named Okja.

This marks the second major motion picture in which the Wagner marching band is featured. Two years ago, the band's drumline performed in the film Nerve, starring Dave Franco and Emma Roberts, which was released on July 27, 2016.
 
The plot surrounds an industrious high school senior Vee Delmonico (played by Roberts), who is tired of living life on the sidelines and is pressured by her friends to join Nerve, a popular online game that challenges players to accept a series of dares.

Wagner College Marching Band Mission Statement
The Wagner College Marching Band promotes group unity, encourages academic excellence & school pride.  The group serves as both an academic class and a service organization for the community representing the Athletic Department as well as the entire College. Our ongoing goal is to look and sound our best as well as perform with the highest quality at each and every game and campus performances.