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Your upcoming movie The Jersey Devil - in a few words, what
is it going to be about?
In The Jersey Devil, the Original Devil’s term limits are up and a new
Devil is taking over. He wants to re-vamp Hell, make it cooler, hipper and
attract more souls to challenge the Kingdom. He starts by relocating Hell
and after an extensive search; he falls in love with Jersey City, New
Jersey and moves in. The Original Devil is not happy about this and comes
to New Jersey to try to stop him and bring Hell home. What were your inspirations
when writing The Jersey Devil? Jersey
has been my home for almost 20 years. I always felt that like Brooklyn,
where I grew up, Jersey had a personality, an attitude. It’s a character
itself. I am a huge fan of
Springsteen or Kevin Smith and I love how they incorporate their Jersey
sensibilities into their stories. You know the people and places they are
talking about. So when I started writing a comedy about Hell, I thought
Jersey City would be a great location and I could write to it.
Joseph and co-writer Billy Pepitone |
After tackling
purgatory in Stuck in
the Middle, you're going for hell in The Jersey Devil
- am
I the only one who's seeing a pattern here? I
don’t see a connection at all (laughs). I really like to write with no
limitations, no boundaries and when you deal with the afterlife you can
create your own world and scenarios. Plus being brought up in Catholic
schools there is a lot to I can draw from and iconic figures I can use for
comedy, like the Devil. My goal has always been to make a
non-connected trilogy of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. So I’m 2/3rds of
the way there.
Why Jersey
City, and do you get any support from the city itself? We
teamed up with a great producing team - Michael Billy and Jarl Haugedal.
They are from Jersey City and are really involved with the community. They
got Mayor Steven Fulop on board and the Jersey Film Commission and we have
been welcomed with open arms. It really is an amazing city and I’m
really excited to use it as a backdrop. It is a great place to shoot. Do
talk about the intended look and feel of the movie for a bit!
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Michael Billy, Jarl Haugedal |
We
definitely want to separate between the Old Hell and the New Hell. Old
Hell will be more old-fashioned, a bit archaic in style and personality.
When we move to Jersey City and a hipper, new Hell it will really come
alive. You will definitely get the feel that there has been an upgrade in
the Underworld. What
can you tell us about the film's own brand of humour? The
humor in this film, like Stuck in
the Middle, is really broad. My brother
Billy (co-writer) and I try to write stuff that’s smart, crude, current
and dated all at the same time. There are pop culture references and
situations that happened to us that we turned into scenes. We know who
these characters are and know how they will react in these situations we
create. But basically its just stuff that makes us laugh.
Do
talk about your cast for a bit, and why exactly these people? We
are really excited about this incredible cast. We were lucky enough to get
Chris Mulkey who is coming off of Captain
Phillips and Boardwalk Empire.
David Chokachi of Baywatch is another great actor who just joined the cast.
And I’m working with a few people from Stuck in
the Middle again like Jack Mulcahy (Brothers McMullen), who I wrote
the part of Lucifer for. Stephen Fontana and Keith Collins [Keith
Collins interview - click here] are back as is
Penelope Lagos, who is my favorite actress to write for. The cast came
together perfectly and I’m looking forward to them just doing what they
do.
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Jack Mulcahy, Penelope Lagos, Keith Collins |
As
far as I know, the film's still in pre-production as we speak - so what
can you tell us about the schedule, and any idea when and where the film
might be released yet? We
begin shooting in February and will wrap in early March. We already have
some distributors inquiring about the film so I hope to have it released
in the fall of 2014. But right now we are just concentrating on making a
great film. Any future projects beyond The Jersey Devil
you'd like to share? We
have a really intense script called The Phoenix based on a concept my
brother Billy had. We’ve had it a few years but have waited for the
right time to do it right. It’s an action/drama so the budget will be
higher. We will go into pre-production on that right after The Jersey
Devil and then I’ll start writing my Heaven comedy to finish my
“trilogy.” (Laughs) Your/your movie's
website, Facebook, whatever else?
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You
can find us on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/jerseydevilmovie?ref=hl
and on Twitter @THEJERSEYDEVIL2
Anything else you are
dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
Just
to give an update on Stuck in
the Middle. It is available on
Blu-Ray on amazon and has been doing well, but now our distributor
R-Squared Films was able to get it onto Roku’s new .99 Movie Channel
which is great news and iTunes and cable channels are next in line. So the
success of Stuck in
the Middle was able to help us do The Jersey Devil and keep the
momentum going. Thanks
for the interview! Thank
you Michael. We appreciate the support you have shown our films.
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