Joey Ambrosini, a Monroe native, wrote the screenplay, will direct and star in a suspenseful film about a mob soldier’s emotional turmoil after being assigned to kill his younger cousin to “make his bones” in the Mafia. The movie, “Making Bones”, will be streamable on LateFlix when it’s released late this year.
“It’s really about loyalty and family,” Ambrosini said. “I’m the youngest cousin.”
Randy Borruso plays as the older cousin ordered to do the hit.
“It’s suspenseful,” Ambrosini said of the movie. “It gives you a thrill, a mysterious, ‘what the hell’s gonna happen next?'”
He said “Making Bones” brings the story into the modern time period, which “has rarely been done before.”
The cast and crew gathered at Monroe Social, a restaurant at 494 Main St., to shoot scenes for “Making Bones” Monday morning. “Taking this movie to Monroe is special to me, because it’s my hometown,” Ambrosini said.
Other than one scene shot in Bridgeport, “Making Bones” will be filmed entirely in Monroe. “This is our biggest location,” Ambrosini said of Monroe Social.
Ambrosini, 21, has already been involved in 20 projects, including movies like “Alarmed”, “Johnny & Clyde” and “Damon’s Revenge”, shows, music videos and shorts.
Mark Thompson is the producer for “Making Bones”. Among his movie credits, Thompson was first assistant director for “Junkyard Dogs” with Denise Richards and was a supporting actor in the feature film, “American Trash” in Robert LaSardo’s directorial debut.
“This is probably my fourth project with Joey,” Thompson said. “It’s great working with him. He has a laser beam focus.”
“When you have this type of responsibility, you want to make sure everything is being attended to, while they’re here,” he said of directing the cast during a shoot. “You don’t want to waste everybody’s time. Time is very crucial. People have expectations for things to go as they should on paper. We want to get as close to the call sheet as possible, so every minute counts.”
A rising star
Among the actors working Monday was Tony Spera, son-in-law of the famed Monroe ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren and a paranormal researcher himself. He plays a mob boss in the movie. Spera has worked with Ambrosini before, starring as Raymond, a mob boss in Ambrosini’s movie, “The Jackpot Hit”.
Spera was leading a paranormal conference in Waterbury when he first met Ambrosini.
“He said, ‘I make films. I think I have the perfect part for you,'” Spera recalled. “I hadn’t heard from him in months. Then he called about ‘Jackpot Hit‘. It was fun. I liked doing it.”
Spera said he watched the show “Sopranos” and movies like “Casino” and “Goodfellas” for ideas for his character.
“You have to get into the mode of being a tough guy, a mobster,” he said. “You don’t want to be over the top, so it’s phony. They say the person you have to fear most is the quiet one.”
After catching the acting bug, Spera came up with the idea for “Making Bones” and ran it by Ambrosini.
“You have to get into the mode of being a tough guy, a mobster. You don’t want to be over the top, so it’s phony. They say the person you have to fear most is the quiet one.” — Tony Spera
“He loved the title and wrote it,” Spera said. “I think Joey is going to be a big star some day, both as an actor and a director. Joey loves what he does. I don’t think he slept at all last night. Maybe in 10 years, or sooner, you’ll hear his name. He writes the screenplays himself.”
Aside from acting in “Making Bones”, Spera is planning for the Warren’s Seekers of the Supernatural Phantasma-Con, to be held Oct. 27 and 28 at Mohegan Sun Arena. For ticket information, click here.
Donald St. John, of Boston, the executive producer of “Making Bones”, is a union actor who starred in 50 movies in the city, including “Equalizer II” with Denzel Washington, “Patriots Day” with Mark Wahlberg, and “Free Guy” with Ryan Reynolds.
“I love Joey,” St. John said. “I think he has a real future in the business. I’m very impressed with Joey’s work. I think he’s the next Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino.”
John “The Iceman” Scully, a former boxer turned trainer, who had fought for the World Light Heavyweight Championship during his career, plays a character providing mob muscle in “Making Bones”.
“I have a couple lines of dialogue,” he said. “It’s cool.”
Scully said he likes working with Ambrosini. “He’s a good kid. He knows me through boxing. He’s a boxing fan,” Scully said. “We’ve been Facebook friends.”
A Monroe actor
Lexia Hayden, 16, who will be a junior at Masuk High School this year and was the first singles girls tennis player there last year, has a bit part in “Making Bones”.
“I play Isabella, a 21-year-old girl at a bar,” Hayden said. “I tell a guy off who hits on my friend and slap him. I’m excited. I like acting and this business. It’s fun to portray another person.”
She is a New York model, who has appeared in national commercials for Chase Bank, including one with Noah Schnapp who plays Will in “Stranger Things”, according to Hayden’s mother, Adele, who calls herself her daughter’s “momager”.
“She started as a Baby Gap model,” Adele said. “She was so cute as a baby, it was ridiculous.”
Hayden has walked the runway for New York Fashion Week since she was 11-years-old. She was on the cover of the KidFash Magazine, recently posed on a rooftop tennis court of Long Island City, and was featured on a billboard in Times Square.
Hayden had a guest starring role on the sci-fi TV series “Happy” and does modeling for brands online where her social media presence includes over 500,000 followers on Instagram, @lexiahayden.
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