'Crimson Peak' Features Buffalo’s Victorian-Era Architecture

BUFFALO, N.Y. – You don't have to be a movie buff to know the mansion where most of "Crimson Peak" is set probably isn't a place you'd want to hang out. One thing you can't tell from the trailer: a party featured in it - and much of the movie's opening - takes place right here in Buffalo.

"It's very important to take every scout seriously. 'Crimson Peak' producers called us back in early 2013," said Film Commissioner Tim Clark.

Clark says they were in town by June.

"A lot of the stuff from kind of that Victorian era of Buffalo still existed," said Clark. "They were very, very centered on pools, believe it or not - indoor pools."

The plot finds a main character traveling to the city in 1901 to shop around an invention. The Buffalo History Museum's Director of Library and Archives says it's understandable why Buffalo would be picked for a story like that.

"We are one of the first cities to have access to cheap and plentiful electricity from hydropower at Niagara Falls," said BHM's Cynthia Van Ness. "This makes Buffalo a very attractive place to come and open a factory, to do business."

Although Clark says the team showed interest in shooting scenes in the city, the whole thing was ultimately filmed at Pinewood Studios in Toronto. It's not the first time another city or soundstage has been cast as the Queen City, but Clark says that's changing.

"We're seeing a big uptick in movie scout requests from people who were going to shoot in Michigan, and the tax credit there dried up," said Clark. "It's really, again, been very, very lucrative for us, and I think a lot of it has to do with the new 10 percent bump to shoot in places like Western New York."

Even though Buffalo didn't get the part this time, Clark says it's getting call backs more and more to fill in for places like New York and Chicago.

Clark says Buffalo actually has a long list of movies being taking place there but being filmed elsewhere. They include 'You Kill Me' with Ben Kingsley, which was filmed in Winnipeg, and 'The Factory' with John Cusack, which shot in Montreal.