It's the Lasalle branch of the Niagara Falls public library like no one's ever seen it before. “It's exciting. We were standing here and then the producer came over and started giving us a few hints at clues,” said Niagara Falls resident, Patty Robinson.“
On Monday, spectators stopped by the set of Marshall which had set up shop at the library. “You don't see it every day. This is my first time actually seeing something like this. It's awesome,” added Angie Caraballo.
The courtroom thriller is about a case early on in Thurgood Marshall’s career. He was the first black U.S. Supreme Court Justice. “This used to be a police precinct/city hall and so there's some offices upstairs that we're going to make them into a law firm,” explained the film’s executive producer, Chris Bongirne.
While we'll know the scenes were shot right here in western New York, audiences won't. The movie takes place in the 1940s in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Still, regional film commissioner Tim Clark said the business is beneficial to the area. “They're spending millions here and it really is millions in Buffalo and WNY. Everything from fuel in their trucks to catering needs to hotel room nights and also all the local hires. A lot of people put to work on this.”
The film's receiving a 30 percent tax incentive through the NYS film tax credit program. It also gets an additional 10 percent off labor costs for working upstate. It's really become pretty lucrative for the film community to take a look at Buffalo and WNY and I think that's one reason why they're here,” Clark said. “But it’s also the incredible architecture and all the period stuff that they were able to find,” he added.
Production is planned across WNY for the next six weeks. Filming is also scheduled in downtown Buffalo.
The film is expected to be in theatres by the end of 2016.
