Jennifer Esposito loses home she mortgaged to finance movie. Picture: Instagram/@jesposito
Jennifer Esposito says she’s being forced to move out of her home because she mortgaged it to self-finance her latest film.
Taking to Instagram, the 52-year-old tearfully revealed took out a mortgage on her property in 2024 to get Fresh Kills made.
The actor had spent 15 years developing the project, which she wrote, starred in and directed, Realtor reports.
“Yeah, I’m looking like a** right now because I’ve been crying because I’m moving out of my home that my mortgage to make my film,” the Crash star said in the clip.
“And then have people who are in the spotlight now not be able to just throw back and say, hey, thanks. Watch this film.”
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Jennifer Esposito has revealed she lost her home after mortgaging it in 2024 to finance her movie Fresh Kills. Picture: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Jennifer Esposito loses home she mortgaged to finance movie. Picture: Instagram/@jesposito
Fresh Kills was inspired by Esposito’s experiences growing up on Staten Island.
Before filming the movie in 2022, the actor said she struggled to get financing because of its female-centred cast and story about a wife and daughters coming to grips with their family’s ties to organised crime.
Esposito reportedly funded a significant part of the budget herself, with the rest coming from a mix of fan and digital investors.
“And then I said to myself, You know what? Nobody owes anybody anything,” she continued in the video.
“And then I thought – do we? Do we as human beings? Maybe that’s why we’re in this problem right now, where we are. I think actually, we do owe each other something.
“We owe each other decency as human beings. That’s what we owe each other.”
Esposito later posted an Instagram story with the words “Committing to your art is a commitment to vulnerability.”
She uploaded another with a quote from George Lucas that reads: “I am very aware as a creative person that those who control the means of production, control the creative vision,” adding the caption: “Which is why independent stories matter so much!”
Esposito reportedly funded a significant part of the budget herself. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Back in 2024, Esposito revealed that she was taking out a mortgage on her house because she had faith in herself.
“This town tells you what you can be and what you can’t be for so many years,” she told KTLA.
“I was just so over that, and I 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 so 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 far too long?”
She gushed about the film as she noted that it was extremely important for her to follow her gut when it came to the project.
In a recent Instagram post, the director held back tears as she revealed she was no longer living in the home she mortgaged. Picture: Instagram/@jesposito
“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.
“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,” she added.
At the time, she confessed that people didn’t believe she would make it, adding that some even offered her cash to walk away from the project.
“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 said.
Fresh Kills premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to rave reviews but had a very limited release, making less than $US70,000 ($A100,000) in the US. The movie is now available for streaming on Hulu.
“It’s been a long road. I’m deeply proud of it,” Esposito said.
Parts of this story first appeared in Realtor and was republished with permission.
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