Werewolf movie being shot in Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Werewolves are prowling around Buffalo this week, but there's no need to stock up on silver bullets.

The City of Good Neighbors is serving as a backdrop for a Hollywood monster movie. Security has been tight, surrounding the filming of this upcoming movie, an original screenplay called, "Ward's Island." But News 4 got to sneak a peek at some of the action along the Buffalo River.

The movie is actually set in New York City but it is being shot entirely in Buffalo.

Producer Christopher Ray said, "We are trying to get a New York City look out of it, and a lot of the areas of Buffalo, we can cheat to make look like New York City. It is not that much of a stretch, and the fact that we don't have to pay the NYC prices [is the best part]."

Tim Clark, the head of the Buffalo Niagara Film Office, says Buffalo has "body doubled" for a lot of famous places.

"Doubled for Montreal, we've doubled for New York. We have doubled for Chicago, and in Los Angeles, even. A lot of people are surprised to find out that 'Pirates of the Caribbean' was shot here," Clark said.

We can't reveal too much about the plot, but it's about a virus that turns people into werewolves and stars a grown up Ariana Richards, the sweet little girl from 'Jurassic Park', veteran actor on the big and small screen Craig Sheffer, and a well-known lead actor, who is on TV every day: Dennis Haysbert, from the Allstate Insurance commercials, who also played the president from the TV series '24' and lots of other shows and movies to his credit.

The film is a real "get" for Buffalo.

Clark said, "They fall in love with the place and it ends up being a cinematic dream for these people."

So how did they get an actor of Haysbert's stature for a low-budget movie?

"It seems like we got kind of lucky on that one," Ray said. "It might have been just the luck of the draw, it might have been just availability. It was definitely great to get him in here."

Clark said this is the fifth movie to be shot in Buffalo this summer and a national advertiser shot a commercial in the city on Thursday. Clark points out, the movies bring prestige, and the production companies hire local help, and spend money at hotels and restaurants.