A few years ago, when University of New Haven president Jens Frederiksen worked at a university in Nashville, he didn’t think much of it when a film production team asked him to show them around the school’s campus. The university frequently got calls from production teams that filmed commercials because of beautiful old buildings on campus. He said yes.

Little did he know that what he assumed to be a commercial would turn out to be a movie, and he would make his acting debut in it.

“Holland” a thriller that follows the story of Nancy Vandergroot (Nicole Kidman), a teacher, homemaker and wife to her “community pillar husband” played by Matthew Macfadyen, includes the university president. Set in the town of Holland, Mich., a place known for its Dutch heritage, Nancy and her friend (Gael Garcia Bernal) become suspicious of a dark secret in town, and the story takes a twisted turn from Nancy’s normal picture-perfect life.

After receiving the call for a part in the film, Frederiksen had 24 hours to memorize lines in Dutch.

“I spent all Sunday walking around my neighborhood with earphones, memorizing these 20 lines in a language I don’t speak,” said Frederiksen. “I’m Danish, not Dutch, and so I guess I was able to memorize them. My wife set up a ring light in the living room and we did an audition tape’”

Frederiksen said the situation felt surreal, from being on set to getting to meet Kidman.

“They had a sign in desk, it was all sort of quarantined off, and they asked me if I was an extra,” he said. “I said I didn’t think so. And they were like, are you crew? I said no, I’m not crew. And they were like, ‘What’s your name again?’ And then I discovered that I was ‘an actorand I got my own little trailer and I went through hair and makeup.”

Though he filmed three scenes, Frederiksen assumed that they cut his one major speaking part after a friend of his in Nashville saw a screening of the film, and the friend said he hadn’t seen Frederiksen. That’s when Sue Pranilus, senior executive director of marketing and communication, ran into his office one day with a giant smile on her face.

“I’d seen myself in the trailer and I just assumed they must have cut it because I’m sitting next to the writer who wrote the movie in the scene where I’m doing most of the speaking,” Frederiksen said. “Sue ran in, she had a giant smile on her face, and I was like, ‘What are you smiling about?’

She’s like, ‘Sit down,’ and she flips open the computer, and sure enough, there’s both my voice speaking in Dutch in the background, and there I am. Once I got through the first couple of lines in the take of the actual movie, I was asked to give a look of disdain. I told Sue the story and it turns out my look of disdain actually made it in the movie, so there’s some validation of my crazy stories.”

Frederiksen said his life has been full of similar experiences that felt surreal.

“I’ve lived a life where things have happened in remarkable ways, and I’ve had some experiences where I have to sort of pinch myself,” he said.

“Holland” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.