Sore Losers - The Movie

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Joey

Pensante

                     JOE PINS

 

How did you end up meeting the director and why did he cast you for this role?

Rich (Director) and I met in Florida about fifteen years ago. I had just moved to Orlando from New York and he had just moved down from Chicago. We ended up being roommates. At the time Rich was booking with another one of my friends from New York.  Eventually, Rich ended up going out on his own, so I basically I ended up taking over phones and collecting as a replacement. Rich came to me and said I’m writing you in my screenplay to be a corrupt cop. He new that you couldn’t get more corrupt than the two of us.  Plus, he knew that my father was a retired policeman. So I assume that’s how I got the role.

How was it being directed by one of your closest friends?

When we first started shooting it was a little nerve racking. One of the cameramen was being a complete idiot. He kept getting on everyone's nerves.  Rich finally stepped in and I think he threatened him if he didn't cool out. Needless to say we never saw the cameraman again. But all in all it was a lot fun but still quite challenging.  There were plenty of long hours, but Rich pulled it all together.  He is very detail oriented and knows exactly what he wants.  At times, we would do scenes a couple times and nail it, others would be taken 25 times. He would not stop until he got the exact shot he wanted.

Do you see a lot of yourself in the character that you played?

I do see a lot of myself relating to the character, except for being a cop. A lot of scenes we did were things I already experienced or had seen other people experience when I was younger. So it came very natural to me.

Can you give us a brief description of the character you are playing?

Well I play a degenerate cop named Joey Pins with a compulsive gambling problem. No matter what I do I can’t stop losing. It shows you the emotional roller coaster of a gambling lifestyle that destroys everything in its path from the relationship with my immediate family, to my fiancé and friends.

Some of the most memorable scenes in the film are with your mother in the film. The chemistry between the two of you was amazing. Was that you real mother? 

No, it was actually Rich’s mother Colleen Celenza. Rich asked me who I thought should play my mother in the film. We were debating with around 20 other women. Finally I said "how about your mother?"   I knew some of the scenes that Rich wrote between son and mother were based on them and I must admit I love his mother, she’s nuts. So one day Rich calls me up and says come to my place. He wanted to test me and Colleen out for a scene. I had the lines already but didn’t know I was actually going to do the scene on the toilet. I got there and Rich said it’s just a test run, let’s see how it goes. So we did it, but he lied and had every intention on using it. He bullshitted us, but considering it was his mother and my first shoot I think it was a great move. We did it without thinking about the cameras and just let it roll.

 

 

 

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