Inside the kebab copyright drama on ‘My Oxford Year’

Kebab vans are an Oxford staple, but the one in My Oxford Year presented a bit of a hilarious headache for the production team.

In the film, on Netflix on Aug. 1, graduate student Anna (Sofia Carson) and English professor Jamie (Corey Mylchreest) meet and fall in love against the stunning academic backdrop of Oxford University. The film bursts with the sounds, sights, and traditions of Oxford — from Anna’s sub-fusc (that’s the uniform she wears to matriculation, formal dinners, etc.) to the city’s narrow stone passageways and corridors.

On their first official night out together (though not a date, technically), Jamie resolves to show Anna a crucial Oxford tradition — finishing the night out at a kebab van. The film calls the van Dimitri’s, but former Oxford students (this writer included) will best know it as Hassan’s.

And it turns out the filmmakers were keen to use the Hassan name, but a hiccup hampered them in tracking down the owner ahead of production. “It was originally Hassan’s kebab van in the script,” explains Mylchreest. “They wanted to get the rights. They couldn’t find Hassan, so they didn’t get the rights, and they changed it to Dimitri’s.”

However, in a twist of fate, when they got to Oxford to film the scenes, the only van available for filming was the one belonging to Hassan’s. “By then, because we hadn’t got the rights, we were using Hassan himself as Dimitri to train the person who was playing Hassan,” adds Mylchreest. “Then, they got the art department to create a whole fake Dimitri’s van logo for Hassan’s van, which actually had Hassan’s of Oxford on the side.”

It’s a circular set of events that feels worthy of an Oxford philosopher’s logic — inventing a fake kebab van that the production then must transpose onto the actual kebab van they wanted to use in the first place.

“So, we used him,” concludes Mylchreest. “But because we hadn’t gone through the proper channels, we couldn’t use Hassan. But it would’ve been great for him as well because he could have had some promo.”

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

As someone who’s waited in line at Hassan’s after a late night, I feel confident saying that he probably is just fine without it.