I was only about 7 or 8 when I first caught a glimpse of Tony Buba as an extra wearing a sombrero in “Dawn of the Dead.” “I just wanted to be able to see myself in the movie.” Last year Alex Lei and I made a pilgrimage to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (more specifically to Braddock) to interview Tony. Not about my favorite movie since I was in 3rd grade (we saw the Monroeville Mall and the Christian Stavrakos’ bust of George Romero, before its well-publicized closure), but about Tony’s art, specifically some of the finest works of non-fiction and meta-fiction ever made in the country.
Tony was described as a regional filmmaker and given access to much of the world’s backrooms because of his talent and the eccentricities of his background (his last name alone granted him entry into a program when he was younger—evidently, someone just had to know what a “Buba” looked like). While Tony cataloged Braddock’s fortunes, his brother Pat made friends with Thelma Schoonmaker, which landed him gigs editing “Casino” and “Heat,” which in turn led to his final credits: working for Al Pacino on his Salomé project, having become the actor’s favorite editor.
Tony thus had a window into how Hollywood worked via his brother and chose to stay away. Even working for his oldest collaborator, George Romero, became more of a slog when his budgets increased. He didn’t want to just make fantasy; he wanted to apply it to the lives of everyday people, to give Braddock the fullness of cinematic empathy.
It’s doubly shameful that Tony’s sole fiction feature, “No Pets,” is not just unheralded; it’s basically unseen. Even die-hard fans of his haven’t seen it. I had to get a copy straight from the director’s hands.
I want to dedicate this work not just to Tony’s tireless efforts to help Braddock in its many hours of need, but to his lovely wife Jan, whom we had the pleasure to briefly meet on our trip to their home, and to Pat, who died of cancer in 2018, and to everyone who can’t quit their Pittsburgh accent, the sweetest sound in the world. To everyone who traded better fortunes to help out where they can make a difference.
