Hollywood in New Bedford: Why the city continues to be overlooked as a filming location

NEW BEDFORD – “Don’t Look Up,” “Free Guy,” Disney’s “Godmothered,” and Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” are among the handful of big box office movies to be filmed around the Boston and Massachusetts area. But New Bedford seemingly hasn’t had its moment in the spotlight — here’s why.

From cobblestone paths, a fishing port, abandoned buildings, historic homes to scenic parks, the Whaling City is a perfect location to serve as the backdrop for any Hollywood production. Over the last decade, only a few independent films such as “Jungleland” and “Good Kids,” have filmed a few scenes locally.

In 2010, portions of Route 18 in New Bedford were shut down to film an action-packed car chase scene for the film “Knight and Day,” starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Since then, Greater New Bedford has been seemingly overlooked when it comes to big-budgeted Hollywood films.

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“We've scouted New Bedford a bunch of times, and a lot of it is for historic pieces or doing a period movie,” said Mark Fitzgerald, a veteran Boston-based location manager. Fitzgerald’s main job is helping productions select locations. He’s worked on “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Town” and “Patriots Day,” among others.

“They'll send me a script, I'll read the script, I'll break it down and make a list of locations: exterior park day, interior bar night…,” he said, adding that there’s usually 40 to 60 locations per screenplay. “Then me and my team go out and start scouting places.”

Fitzgerald’s first production was the 1996 film “The Crucible,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis. The production shot on Hog Island off the North Shore. “To this day, like 25 years later: best movie ever,” he said.

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“I scouted ‘Little Women.’ We looked into New Bedford, because it's got the old buildings and the old cobblestone streets and in a very old look that we needed for that movie,” Fitzgerald said. “At the end of the day, they ended up shooting a lot of it in Concord.”

Deciding where to film

Fitzgerald says that choosing location comes down to three essential reasons: the director’s choice and if it can accommodate the production’s budget and filming schedule.

Productions like to stay within 30 miles of their production office (or “union zone”). If they don’t, production has to put actors and crew in hotels for those filming days.

Cast members usually only work 11-hour days from “bell to bell” which Fitzgerald says is from the hotel to set and then back. “So, you don't really want to be driving an hour in each direction because you lose two hours of filming when your actor is in a car for two hours a day,” Fitzgerald added.

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“One thing that stinks is this whole 30-mile zone, because obviously New Bedford is a little further out than 30-miles out of Boston.”

New Bedford has a better shot of getting a movie that is looking for a seaside town as their backdrop, according to Fitzgerald. “Like a ‘Manchester by the Sea’ film could easily have been shot in New Bedford,” he added.

However, whenever productions are looking for a fishing town, Fitzgerald says New Bedford is also competing with Beverly, Gloucester, Rockport, Duxbury and Cohasset, to name a few. “I've been down in New Bedford and Fall River a bunch of times scouting. And we keep pushing it, but they keep pushing back,” he said.

Fitzgerald recently worked on the Netflix film “Don’t Look Up,” starring Leonard DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep. The production spent one day filming at Battleship Cove in Fall River. “Why we ended up there is because they had the battleship. That’s it,” he said.

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For another upcoming production, Fitzgerald also said a studio was heavily considering the corner of Acushnet and Dover Street in New Bedford, and Freestone’s City Grill, for a location. But the director did not opt for those locations.

Filming can impact an economy

Filming in certain areas can increase tourism and increase economic growth, according to the former New Bedford Director of Tourism Dagney Ashley, in a previous interview. She now heads the tourism office in Quincy. “Movies attract tourists. It provides a destination image and it also increases branding and helps with marketing a destination,” she said.

“It gives an overall economic impact for all the cities and towns and the state as a whole.”

Fitzgerald, who also worked as a location manager for “Good Will Hunting,” agrees, adding that L Street Tavern – a pinnacle location in the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck film – continues to be a major tourist attraction.  “All the tour buses want to stop by the L Street and go in and have a beer,” he said. “I can't even calculate the kind of dollars that place makes.”

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“It's all in timing as well,” says Lorenzo Vigil, a location scout for the past 20 years. “If they have an event going on, and we want to film there, during the time of the event, they will put the event in front of the film.”

Vigil, who is also known for his photography, surveys the East Coast taking photos of exterior and interior locations. He has a website and portfolio that shares potential spots for filming.

“Sometimes I will find an area that I think would be really cool for a location. And I'll stop, take some photographs, get the ins and outs of it, get the name of the owner and put it in my portfolio,” he said. Vigil says he’s scouted a few spots in New Bedford and Westport that are in his portfolio, too.

Vigil says he also serves as the confidant to the owners of a location if a production company chooses that space. “I will not hand over the location until I am very, very, very sure that they are happy. They are first in every situation,” he said.

“But, at the end of the day, it really comes down to budget."

Filming in Massachusetts to increase

Fitzgerald, who grew up in Framingham and now lives in Falmouth, says what attracts films to the Boston area is that there are all different looks in the same vicinity. “You can get the city, you can drive a half an hour out to Harvard. You can drive an hour to the Berkshires and get the country,” he said. “You pretty much get every look you need in Massachusetts, it’s kind of a great place to be.”

And he added that now that the MA film tax credit is restored, he thinks more films and television shows will be attracted to this area of the East Coast. “You're going to see a lot more infrastructure, studios getting built, more television shows,” he said.

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Recently, the AMC series “Kevin Can F*** Himself,” which was shot in the Brockton area, was renewed for a second season with rumors that filming will return. The Showtime hit-series, “Dexter” was shot in Worcester as well.

A new Julia Child HBOMax series also wrapped production in Boston, Cambridge and Framingham last month.

Fitzgerald is optimistic with the increase in productions, overlooked locations such as New Bedford may finally have their shot at welcoming Hollywood to their doorstep. “It's been busy and it's been great. But it's going to explode,” he said.

“It’s going to blow up here.”

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.