NEW FILM 'THE HIT' HAS COIN-DRIVEN PLOT THEME

A Great Neck law office recently crossed paths with a story of ancient Egyptian folklore.

“The Hit,” an independent film, shot scenes at the law office of Elias C. Schwartz at 343 Great Neck Road.

“He has Hollywood clientele and he saw my resume and my pitch and I told him we have kind of a unique style and gave him all the background,” said A. J. Cross, the film’s director and lead actor. “He was eager to help us out.”

Schwartz said it was the first time a movie had been filmed in his office and that he was willing to help Cross because of his own appreciation for the arts.

The film, Cross said, is a romantic comedy that tells the story of a man from the United Kingdom and a woman from New York City on their journey to reclaim a rare coin that leads to a lost treasure belonging to ancient Egyptians.

“The film brings Kam, this young wide-eyed guy who has this kind of appreciation for the artistic value of objects, from the United Kingdom to New York not knowing what will happen,” Cross said. “He meets his Juliet. He meets the girl who has become his light in the darkness, who lights the way for him because he’s an outsider.”

In their quest to secure the coin, he said, Kam and his partner, Val, played by Inna Beynishes, cross paths with “repo men” seeking to find the coin for themselves.

While he was attending St. John’s University, he studied abroad in Rome, where he saw the Trevi Fountain, which served as one of the influences for the film.

“The fountain is this place where you throw a coin behind your back and it says if you throw a coin into the fountain you will always go back to Rome,” Cross said. “That experience in Rome that I had and the legend of the fountain subconsciously caused me to write this movie.”

After graduating, he said he worked at a museum in Morristown, N.J., which also influenced his writing of the film. “When you work at a museum, it is a magical place where history comes alive,” Cross said.

He also said that critically acclaimed films like “National Treasure” and “The Mummy” influenced the film.

Cross, a Queens resident, said that once the film is completed, he wanted to send it to film festivals and hold private screenings, including one in Great Neck.

He said his distribution plan was to have the film available on popular streaming services like Netflix and Amazon.

To read the complete article, see:
Rare coin chase leads film through Great Neck office (www.theislandnow.com/great_neck/news/rare-coin-chase-leads-film-through-great-neck-office/article_805b123a-5a68-11e6-a3a5-1739777c8d8a.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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