The filming of an Asian-inspired horror film continues in downtown Buffalo. Work on the film is taking place across the region and creating dozens of local jobs.
Principal photography of Bashira moved, this week, to the WNED-TV studio. The film's producer, Steve Krone, says the cast and crew began working in the area on July 9.
"Some of the locations we've shot at, or are going to shoot at, include Statler City. We shot there for a full week, Venu nightclub for a couple of days. We shot out at Little Rock City which is doubling for Japan. We built a large structure out there, a large Japanese structure. We had three actors out there all speaking Japanese. We're shooting at a home in Aurora. So we're seeing a lot of the Buffalo area," Krone said.
Krone says the story is set in two different worlds, an unnamed U.S. city and rural Japan.
"Our male lead character, Andy, is an electronic music DJ, an EDM DJ, working the local clubs trying to make a name for himself. And the female lead character is one of his fans he doesn't really know. She's sort of a mysterious fan, half-Japanese girl. And it's about the intersection of their two stories," Krone said.
She ends up traveling back to Japan where she learns about a curse destined to come over her. He says it's definitely a horror film, but in a non-traditional way.
"It's not a gory of violent horror film. I would describe it as more of a sort of supernatural kind of ghost story kind of horror film. It's based on a Japanese legend," Krone said.
It stars Liam Aiken whose credits include Ned Rifle and Road To Perdition. The female lead is Mitzi Akaha.
Krone has co-produced over 50 movies including the Matrix Trilogy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Training Day. Director Nickson Fong is an Academy Award-winning visual effects artist.
"The film has quite a bit of visual effects in it around the sort of Bashira side of the story. Bashira is capable of doing some pretty amazing things. So we're using visual effects to do a lot of those," Krone said.
The film has about 38 speaking parts, which Krone says is a lot for a horror film. The crew totals about 60 people, most of whom, he says, are from Buffalo.
"We find, that as more production comes to Buffalo, the base of talented crew continues to grow. And we've had a great experience hiring local Buffalo folks," Krone said.
Filming continues in Buffalo through August 9. Krone says Bashira will be complete early next year and released in theaters worldwide in the fall of 2019.
