Jennifer Esposito has revealed the lengths she went to for her directorial debut, ‘Fresh Kills’. The writer, director, and star of the film (now in theatres) appeared on ‘Live with Kelly and Mark’ where she shared that she “produced it and paid for most of it” herself, even mortgaging her home to fund the project.
“Oh, my God, you’ve been busy,” exclaimed Kelly Ripa. Addressing the audience, Ripa added, “Guys, you have to see this movie! It is your moral obligation to see this movie!”
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‘Fresh Kills’, Esposito’s feature directorial debut, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The Staten Island-set crime drama features Esposito as a family matriarch, alongside Emily Bader, Odessa A’zion, Nick Cirillo, and Annabella Sciorra. The story follows Bader’s character, “an inquisitive young girl who discovers her father (Domenick Lombardozzi) is an emerging mafia kingpin. Rose’s growing desire to break free from the path set before her soon threatens her existence and alienates her from her closest allies.”
Esposito explained to Ripa and Mark Consuelos that ‘Fresh Kills’ “is the first film in the mafia genre where we’re seeing the point of view from the women.” Raised in Staten Island, Esposito was inspired by the “violently angry” young women whose families were involved in criminal activities.
“I realized, it’s really more about choice,” she continued. “I kept going back to [the script] when I would hit roadblocks in either my career or my life and think, ‘That’s where that rage came from.’ It’s about the boxes we’re put in and they didn’t have a choice.”
Regarding the challenges of multitasking on set, Esposito admitted she “definitely went a little insane.” “No one wanted to make it. I couldn’t even get people to read it. And then when [they] did read it, it was like, ‘We’ll give you $5 million if you cast it with a big-name man. Because females don’t sell movies.’ ”
Esposito then proposed the idea of mortgaging their home to her husband, Jesper Vesterstrøm, whom she married in 2020. “I went to my nice husband and was like, ‘Hey, I got an idea. What do you think about mortgaging the house?’ I do believe if you don’t bet on yourself, who is going to bet on you?”
‘Fresh Kills’ is currently in theatres.
–Farheen Ali