Josh Mitchell, Writer, Director and Star of ‘Hard Visit’, chats about making things happen in Hollywood.
Writer, Director, Screenwriter – Josh Mitchell’s unselfconscious enthusiasm is clearly evident in his latest feature Hard Visit, from Wickid Pissa Films. Taking the hip-gangster dramedy genre to the next level, he introduces a smoking hot female (Jenae Alt) as his antagonist. Finally! A woman gets to be the outlaw – with the brains, guns, and chutzpah to boot!
Hard Visit weighs heavily in the ‘entertain me’ realm of entertainment: fast cars, beautiful women, bad boys, blazing guns, bags of cash, set ups/pay offs, and plenty of laughs.
With movies aimed at the 18-39 year old demographics encompassing 40 percent of audiences, a note to Suits and Number Crushers, Hard Visit is a double down.
Josh plays Ben, a scrappy actor (just looking for a break) underdog, who visits his brother ‘Smoothy’ (Bill Doherty Jr.), a refreshingly funny tough-guy running a sports book for a boss tinged with madness. The very married Smoothy is fooling around with a woman he doesn’t realize is a con-artist. She takes him and his baby brother for the ride of their lives, when she sticks it to them both and takes off with the boss’s cash. Bullets may fly, and money may flow in and out of your hands, but it can never break the special bond between two brothers.
Joshua Maas’s camerawork is visionary, adding tension to the conflict, and thrills to the visuals. A great soundtrack by The Hotels keeps the pace rapid and breathless.
Where did you get your film training?
Josh Mitchell: I’m self-taught. I got a degree in journalism from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. My writing was morphing into screenwriting before I graduated. My professor actually wrote me a check at graduation to help produce one of my first films. I followed Quentin Tarantino’s advice, “you wanna make a movie – make a movie”.
I noticed that a few of the actors in ‘Hard Visit’ also helped produce the film.
Josh Mitchell: Yes, Jenae Alt, Xavier Schoppel, and Anjanette Miller. It’s a great way of learning the business and getting your name and talent out there. There’s a line in the film, “good things come to those who initiate”. I feel fortunate to have a great group of self-motivated people to work with.
You’ve got about 8 or more films you’ve starred in, written and directed. Does that help with casting?
Josh Mitchell: To have a well-known star want to be a part of your project is gratifying. The amazing Clifton Collins Jr., well known for his work in Traffic and the Emmy nominated Westworld, makes a cameo appearance in Hard Visit.
Hard visit also stars Will Nightingale, Kelly Pantaleoni, Alex Helisek, Melanie Marden and Robert Dominick Jones.
Check out the trailer and other Wickid Pissa films here: www.vimeo.com/picknroll
Like the official facebook page here: www.facebook.com/Hard-Visit-
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