“X-Men” director Bryan Singer donates $5 million to his alma mater USC’s School of Cinematic Arts

You gotta respect a guy who gives back!

Bryan Singer, the openly gay director of The Usual Suspects, some of the X-Men films as well as Superman Returns and Valkyrie, has donated $5 million to his alma mater USC’s School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) and its critical studies division.

With the donation comes a name change for the division which will now be called: The Bryan Singer Division of Critical Studies. That’s the unit from which Singer graduated in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree. It examines all forms of moving image media from an analytical and historical perspective.

Singer says in a statement: “In a way, I began my career in the Division of Critical Studies at USC. Watching great films and learning how to think about film from the faculty transformed me as an artist and as a person. I am honored to give back to the division and the school, which gave me so much.”