This past Monday at the AMC Loews Theater in New York City, The Knockturnal hosted the premiere for the new film Pickings.
Pickings is a gangster drama directed by Usher Morgan, the story of a woman played by Elyse Price defending herself against the mobsters trying to take over her bar.
“It’s very empowering to play a woman who has been through it all,” Price said about her role as Jo Lee-Haywood. “No matter what, she won’t give up and she’ll fight for who she loves. And I think that’s the struggle of women every day.”
Many members of the cast come from the theater world of New York and the northeast, and some found the work of going in front of the cameras to be an entertaining experience. Actress Katie Vincent, playing Jo’s sister, spoke about the southern accent she used, saying she “hoped she did it justice!” Joel Bernard discussed the work of getting into character as the villainous Boone, and how he was “speaking so quietly” because he wasn’t used to working in front of a camera, allowing him to change his usual performances.
Director Morgan found the premiere “a little surreal” to have his movie out in the world finally. He spoke about his love of film noir and how that influenced Pickings. Looking at influences on Pickings, Morgan cited Howard Hawks especially but said as well that he is always watching old movies. He also announced that he is in pre-production on a movie that is looking to start filming by the end of the year, so be on the lookout for that!
Pickings will be released on March 2nd, so be sure to watch!
