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Your new movie Lack of
Cockery - in a few words, what is it about?
It's about a venture capitalist who enlists a desperate indie singer to engage
in a life swap with him. But when an unexpected female guest shows up at his
door, he is forced to question his perspective on identity and love.
What were your inspirations when writing Lack
of Cockery? And is any of the film autobiographical? The
story was inspired by my work as a Hollywood publicist and by my
observations of actors and musicians hustling non-stop to reach their
dreams. There are huge chunks of autobiographical pieces in the film
but the main narrative is purely fiction. Do
talk about your directorial approach to your story at hand for a bit! More
than most of my pieces, I had a specific aesthetic in mind for this film
in terms of its look and feel. This is a dialogue-heavy picture that
could have easily excelled on the stage so when approaching it as a
film I wanted to make sure we got intimate with the characters by
covering most of the monologues with supreme close-ups. My overall
directing approach was to keep it loose and organic but there was little
improvising and the talent was extremely prepared in terms of locking down
the scripted lines. You
also play the lead in Lack
of Cockery - so have you written the character with yourself in
mind, what did you draw upon to bring him to life, and how much of Josh
Mitchell can we find in Jimmy? And can you find bits of yourself in Jaysin
as well, actually?
Mike Maolucci and Josh discuss a life swap |
I am essentially trying to be the Boston
Woody Allen - meaning I usually write, direct, and act in most of my
projects. With that said, I definitely molded the Jimmy character
for me to tackle mainly because I have written a lot of rap songs through
the years and this piece was a vehicle for me to expunge them from my
artistic slate. There was some potential Jimmy interest from Ian
Ziering of Sharknado and
Beverly Hills, 90210 but it didn't pan
out so I stepped up to the plate. Besides the monster bank account,
there are an array of similarities between me and Jimmy but I mainly
used tech heavyweights like Mark Cuban and Mark Zuckerberg as my
inspiration. There is a major bit of me in Jaysin which is I am still
working diligently to overdrive my career on a daily basis and sometimes
it can be frustrating and soul-crushing. What can you tell us about the rest
of your key cast, and why exactly these people?
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Alethea Sholomenko |
We
auditioned over 100 actresses for the female lead but there was something
fresh and untainted about Alethea Sholomenko. She is from Canada and
she had only been in LA for a few months and a plethora of good luck had
found her immediately. I got a gut feeling about her potential and
after taking a few meetings with her and gauging how serious she was to
shine I made it official. Same thing with Mike Maolucci who plays
Jaysin in the movie. His audition perfectly captured the angst and
subtle arrogance I envisioned when drafting the words. Both leads
were ideal collaborators and they even wrote a handful of original music
that is featured in the film.
Lack
of Cockery features quite a few performances by as of yet little
known talent - so what can you tell us about them, and how did you find all these people? This
project was funny because we really found people in all different places.
My producers Alex Helisek and Joe Newkirk hit the Sundance Film Festival
with me and we got the buzz going and the talent started to fall into
place. Alex and I discovered the amazing singer Alisa Berhorst at
the Saddle Ranch on The Sunset Strip. She is a bartender there and a
karaoke queen. A few actors were my PR clients like the dynamic
Shawn Jermaine (who also has an awesome song on the soundtrack) and the
sexy Johanna Rae who plays Jaysin's sizzling side dish in the film.
My executive producer Scott Young brought the prolific and seasoned actor
David Sheinkopf to the table so it really was a team effort in terms of
gathering the right people. What
can you tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? It
was an action-packed eight day shoot and we whistled while we worked.
However, it was viciously hot and poor Alethea was forced to be surrounded
by an all male crew and you know how that can go sometimes. She
handled us with flying colors and I don't think we could have had more fun
shooting this film. A
few words about critical and audience reception of your film so far?
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The
film is currently available to the world on Vimeo Demand and the initial
reception has been encouraging. We were nominated for a few awards
at a quality film festival in Atlanta and people are discovering and
championing the movie on a daily basis. It is a challenge to compete
with the Hollywood studios without their marketing budgets and people are
still embracing the idea of paying for online content. Any
future projects you'd like to share?
I recently wrapped a
compelling documentary called Tony's Tale and I am gearing up
to shoot a high-concept short film next month. I have a top-notch TV
series I created and I will be testing the waters with the networks and
deciding whether or not it is possible to execute it on an indie level. Your/your movie's
website, Facebook, whatever else? You can rent or buy Lack
of Cockery here -
www.vimeo.com/ondemand/lackofcockery
Anything else you are
dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Check
out the official Facebook page here -
www.facebook.com/lackofcockery
- and hire me if you are interested in elevating your buzz, branding, and
connections -
www.wickidpissapublicity.com
Thanks
for the interview!
Thank you, my man, and keep shooting for the stars.
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amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Josh Mitchell at adultvideouniverse.com
