LYNN — Frank and Joe Ciota have been honing their creative skills for decades, and they continue to do so with their newest movie, “Cassino in Ischia.”
The brothers have shot two films in Italy — “Ciao America,” which came out in 2002, and “Cassino in Ischia.” They’ve also filmed a short there.
When asked if they had a favorite of the movies they’ve filmed there, Frank Ciota said, “Both of them. The ‘Ciao America’ one was a while ago, and they’re just totally different projects, totally different shootings.”
He explained that “Ciao America” was an independently made film, while their newest project was completed with Paramount Pictures.
When discussing their partnership, Joe Ciota said he was always more geared toward writing, even as a child.
“I got involved with the film because we kind of consult and go back and forth,” he said.
Frank Ciota joined in, saying that his brother writes the stories, and he takes them, and the two work together to turn them into scripts that become films.
“He was the guy always pushing for film,” Joe Ciota said. “I was the writer just looking for something to write.”
Frank Ciota said that he had always wanted to make films but majored in government in college. He got a good laugh when he added, “My grandmother thought I was going to be a governor.”
After college, he worked briefly in politics before deciding to study film at New York University.
“A funny story is the first film I ever worked on was ‘Casino’ with Martin Scorsese in Las Vegas. The producer of that film Barbara De Fina, who also produced ‘Goodfellas’ and several other of his (Scorsese’s) films. After all that time, she ended up being our producer for this film. So it went full circle, which was fun,” Frank Ciota said.
The brothers emphasized that all of their projects could be described as “passion projects.”
“Every one of them is because if they’re not, you’d never get them done. Film is like trying to ride an avalanche most of the time because everything is very intense,” Frank Ciota said.
He continued that the shooting of “Cassino in Ischia” had been challenging for many different reasons.
“One of the reasons was that we were shooting in the middle of the Gulf of Naples, so getting people on and off the island (Ischia) was hard. Then, once you’re there, you can’t just leave,” he said.
The movie follows Nic Cassino (Dominic Purcell), an action star who is starting to get usurped by the newest generation of action stars. Cassino is determined to revive his career and connects with a down-on-his-luck director to create an action movie in Italy.
Due to the action-packed nature of the movie, the brothers got a firsthand look at the stunt world.
“I’ve never really worked with a stunt coordinator. We had one for this movie. I’d never really filmed a real fight scene before. We’ve filmed fight scenes but not with stunt people, and I just watched them choreograph the fight,” Frank Ciota said.
Though the scenes look spontaneous on film, every single punch and kick is coordinated carefully, he added.
“Even the camera angles, you shoot, you set up everything the way you’re going to shoot it based on what they’re going to do,” he said.
Frank Ciota said something even more interesting was how the special effects were combined with the stunts.
“It was all done by a company in Sicily. I had never met them. We talked over the phone and then sent stuff back and forth with computers. But, the stunt stuff was really fascinating because I never really appreciated it before,” he said.
He continued that after making the film, he sat down to watch “Expendables Four.” After the first five minutes, which featured stunts and explosions, he realized how incredible the work was.
“I have much more of an appreciation of how hard it is to actually do that stuff,” Frank Ciota said.
He said that with the special effects aspect, it was a constant back-and-forth of decisions based on how the visuals looked. For example, in one scene, an explosion in the background initially appeared too flame-like, so they kept adjusting it until it looked like a bomb instead.
When asked if he had a specific process for writing films, Joe Ciota said, “I work in my house. Until recently, we had an office in Nahant, but we just let it go. It’s too much space. But, as long as I get some fresh air, I’m ready to go.”
On the other hand, Frank Ciota said his medium was people. “His (Joe’s) medium is doing something by yourself, which for me is terrifying.”
He continued that he usually gets his good ideas by sitting around people and talking to them, and he’s also inspired by music.
“Joe’s more quiet, and I’m louder,” he said. “But it works. I push him to get the scripts done, and he pushes me to finish the film.”
Regarding the film’s ending, Frank Ciota said they’d reached a roadblock and couldn’t figure out how to tie everything together.
“We went all the way through the editing process, and we got to the end, and I was listening to music all the time, and (the film’s) editor played this one song, and I said, ‘Stop that song.’ He goes, ‘What?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know what the ending is, but that’s the song for the end of the film.’”
He continued that the editor told him to go out to lunch, and when he returned an hour and a half later, the entire ending of the film was finished.
Both brothers agreed that there was a major difference in how movies work now, with the film going straight to streaming rather than having the typical big premiere and theatrical release.
“I was talking to someone the other day, and I said, ‘I’m a filmmaker, and I’ve only been in a theater maybe three times in the last year,” Frank Ciota said. He continued that it’s strange to see this switch, as many aspects of movie production don’t feel right when viewed on a small screen.
“When we did the sound mixing in Rome, we were in this huge room that’s totally dark, and it had this thing called Atmos, which were these speakers all around the room, on the ceiling, and under your seat,” he said.
Frank Ciota noted that the way they heard the sound in that room or in the theater could never be fully recreated on a regular TV setup.
The brothers are both looking forward to their upcoming projects and seeing where their next stories take them.
