Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo is becoming a second home to Academy Award winning producer Jonathan Sanger. After filming two movies here, including Cabrini, he's already thinking about a third.
"I definitely want to come back to Buffalo and I'm hoping, even this summer, to bring another movie back here," Sanger told WBEN on Wednesday.
Sanger filmed "Marshall" in Buffalo in 2016. The film is based on the life of Thurgood Marshall, the United States’ first African American Supreme Court Justice. Several scenes were shot in Buffalo including the Dillon courthouse, Central Terminal and Buffalo City Hall.
He chose Buffalo for "Cabrini," filmed in 2021, which hits theaters this weekend.
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"Buffalo has extraordinary architecture and wonderful locations that have not been exploited by the film industry," he said. "Another aspect of Buffalo which made it a really good fit for us, is the fact that you have all of these old brick warehouses and we were able to put fronts on these buildings to create the look of what New York City was like in the late 1800's."
Movie goers from Buffalo will recognize many locations in Cabrini from buildings to interiors and exteriors. Filming took place in Delaware Park, in some of the great mansions on Delaware Avenue, and Knox Park in East Aurora, to name a few locations.
Reaction to Cabrini from the first "crew screening" Tuesday night was fantastic according to Sanger. "Everybody really, really enjoyed the movie. It was a special audience because everyone shared the experience of having made the film. We had over 32 hundred extras from the Buffalo area and a large proportion of our crew and cast came. I had a chance to thank them all for the work they put in."
Sanger has had a 40-year career as both a movie and theatre producer. His films have received three Academy Awards, and 21 Academy Award Nominations.
In our interview, Sanger was quick to credit the Buffalo Niagara Film Office and its Commissioner Tim Clark. "It's arguably the best in the world, but certainly in the country." He called them tremendously helpful.
"We used the film commission for Marshall and when we came back to do Cabrini, there was a huge increase in the numbers of people we could hire.
It was a win win situation for all of us."