Yesterday, Gawker reported on a clip of Bernie Sanders playing Rabbi Manny Shevitz (lol) in the 1999 comedy My X-Girlfriend’s Wedding Reception. “We knew Bernie,” the film’s director, Martin Guigui, told us this morning. “He was kind of a fixture in Burlington—a pretty personable mayor, walking the streets.”

Guigui grew up in Vermont when Sanders was the mayor of Burlington. His father, Efrain Guigui, was the director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. “Bernie and my dad—he used to come see my dad perform,” Guigui said.

After going to New York for film and music school, Guigui came back to Burlington to play music and make movies. “Bernie would come see my band,” he said. “I made my first feature film in Burlington. When I wrote the script, I had people in mind that I could put in the movie. Local celebs, local luminaries.” The owner of a popular restaurant played a chef; the drummer for Phish was the drummer in the band. “Everybody played themselves.”

Guigui wrote the part of the rabbi for Sanders, and brought the script to him in his office. (By this point, he was a congressman.) “I told him the idea, read the lines that I’d written. He thought it was fun and funny.” Guigui remembers Sanders as being very gracious, and a natural on camera. “He only needed one take. He nailed it.”

“Bernie to us, in Vermont, was the guy who would always do the right thing. The way he speaks is benevolent, almost sermon-like,” Guigui said. “Bernie lays out—let’s call them truisms. That’s what rabbis do. They just want you to have a good, stress-free life, from womb to tomb. He’s a guy who’s gonna lead us to the promised land—like any good rabbi would.”

Photo credit: Matthew Thorsen. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.