Miami-Born Filmmaker Jesse Quinones Returns Home to Shoot Biopic Calloused Hands
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| Image courtesy of Jesse Quinones. |
| Jesse Quinones. |
Here at Cultist, we love a "local artist makes it big" story. And those stories are all the more impressive when said artist had to overcome some difficult situations to reach his success.
That's what Miami-born filmmaker Jesse Quinones is doing with his upcoming family drama, Calloused Hands. The filmmaker, who left Miami to become a film writer in London a decade ago, has returned home to shoot his latest film with a cast of seasoned Hollywood stars. But not without first facing his own difficult past.
The film's plot is sourced mainly from Quinones' own difficult childhood. The movie follows Josh, a promising 12-year-old baseball player. Neglected by his mother Debbie (played by Daisy Haggard of Episodes) and abused by her boyfriend Byrd (played by Andre Royo of The Wire), he finds a new path when his grandfather (played by Hans Howes of There Will Be Blood) pushes him to study for his Bar Mitzvah.
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| Image courtesy of Jesse Quinones. |
| Actor Hans Howes. |
After 10 years working as a writer in London, Quinones has returned home to finally shoot his biopic -- a project he began 11 years ago. The script has already been selected to the BBC Writers Room, the HBO sponsored NALIP Latino Writers Lab, NALIP Latino Producers Academy, and is currently a quarter-finalist for the Bluecat Screenplay Competition.
Cultist spoke to the filmmaker on his labor of love, healing from childhood wounds and Miami talent.
Cultist: So how much of this film is based on your life story?
Jesse Quinones: I would say between 90 and 95 percent. A few elements are fictional to sort of make it work in the one and a half hour time frame.
The main character is based on me and my brother Daniel. A lot of it happened to me and happened to him. It's been a tough process, and it's taken 11 years to come to a place to finish the story.
It's taken me all those years to kind of forgive, and also, having a son put me in a place where I can tell the story objectively. Now I feel ready.
What made you want to bring the story to life?
Well, my mom is a writer; she's done a lot of writing on her own life as well. She always encouraged me to use art as a way to heal. As I started working on the story, it definitely closed up a few wounds.
There were really two reasons. One was personal, to kind of delve into some of my own demons that I'm still battling to this day.
The other is that this is a story a lot of people could relate to. It's not even about a kid, it's about a family who have all gone off the path they should be on. It's about them finding their paths in life.
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