Jennifer Esposito took to social media on January 30th to share a life update.
The 52-year-old star revealed she must move out of the home she mortgaged to finance her latest film, Fresh Kills, after struggling through several hurdles to get the film made. It is now available to stream at home.
Forced to Move Out
The Instagram video shows Jennifer Esposito looking a little worse for wear.
In it, she says, “Yeah, I’m looking like a** right now ‘cuz I’ve been crying ‘cuz I’m moving out of my home that I mortgaged to make my film.”
The actor spent 15 years developing the project, which she wrote, starred in, and directed. She mortgaged her property in 2024 to finance and produce the film.
Later in the video, she ponders the support the film has received and how she hoped it would have played out differently. “And then have people who are in the spotlight not be able to just throw one back and say, ‘Hey, thanks, watch this film.’ I said to myself, ‘You know what? Nobody owes anybody anything.’ And then I thought, ‘Do we? Do we as human beings? I think actually we do owe each other something. We owe each other decency as human beings.”
She finished her thoughts in the caption of the video, writing, “Imagine if we all actually had one another’s backs. Systems that are meant to divide actually might fall.”
Struggles with Fresh Kills
Jennifer Esposito hit roadblocks right from the start to get the film made.
During an interview with Live with Kelly and Mark in 2024, she shared some of her struggles. “I was offered $5 million if a male would direct it instead of myself. I was offered a lot of money for stars to be in it.”
She added, “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.'”
The female-centered cast and story became the breaking point for many companies, leaving Esposito with few choices to finance her film. She then decided to finance a large part of the budget herself, approaching her husband Jesper Vesterestrøm about the decision.
“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?” The mortgage was finalized in 2024 and allowed Jennifer Esposito to commit to her dream.
In an interview with KTLA, she explored the constraints of the industry, stating, “This town tells you what you can be and what you can’t be for so many years. I was just so over that and thought, ‘Why am I asking the world to believe in me, I have to believe in me,’ So I’m going to put my money down. At the end of my life, am I going to be happy that my house was paid off? Or am I going to be so happy that I gave myself the opportunity that I’ve been waiting for for far too long? So I thought, I’m going.”
What is Fresh Kills About?
Fresh Kills was a dream project for Esposito, both for the boundaries it broke and for the way it highlighted her experiences growing up on Staten Island.
“It’s the first time that the point of view of the females in the mafia is seen, and I’m the first female to step into the genre, which made this even so much more difficult.” She added, “But it was something that I thought needed to be told. Again, the movie takes place in the mafia, but it’s really about finding a voice in a world that tells you not to have one.”
According to the synopsis, Fresh Kills is about the loyal women of an organized crime family that dominated some New York City boroughs in the late 20th century. The film stars Emily Bader (People We Meet on Vacation) and Odessa A’zion (Marty Supreme).
Where to Stream the Film
Fresh Kills debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Res Sea International Film Festival in 2023. The film is now available to stream on Hulu, Disney+, and Kanopy.
Each of these services requires a subscription to watch.