Since the summer of 2024, Tufts senior, writer and director Kelly Kimbis has been working on her narrative short film, “The Hitman’s Laundromat.” While the film is influenced by Kimbis’ love for crime films and the crime genre, the real inspiration for her film came from an unlikely place.
“My thesis was actually inspired by a comment one of my friends during my study abroad program made to me,” Kimbis said. “He told me that out of everybody in our entire study abroad group … I was most likely to be a hitman, which I found to be a very interesting statement. This was right around the time I was thinking about my thesis project, and so that sort of led me down a rabbit hole of like, ‘Oh, I don’t think about a lot of female hitwomen, or like contract killers.’”
Predominantly filmed at Washvault Laundry, thanks to the generosity of the owner, “The Hitman’s Laundromat” follows the daughter of a crime boss, Cassie Cosenza, raised to be the organization’s hitman, who faces a moral roadblock when she’s instructed to kill her uncle, Lou.
Kimbis shared insights into her casting process, beginning with the discovery of the perfect actress for the role of Cassie.
“I had a really, really clear idea of what I thought my protagonist looked and acted like, and I actually found an actress who was the exact incarnation of who I thought Cassie was,” she said. “She was actually perfect from her first audition.”
However, Kimbis faced an unexpected challenge when casting the character of Cassie’s uncle. She described the actor she ultimately chose as “really not how I imagined the character originally at all.” Despite the initial skepticism, Kimbis found herself drawn to the actor’s personality, which ultimately led to her decision to cast him.
“I was thinking about casting him first, and I liked him so much, like he was just such a sweet, kind person and so easy to work with and so easy to direct. I was like, okay, I think I can change this character to fit you because I want to work with you,” Kimbis said.
Everything then fell into place following the chemistry read.
“It was magical. They came on Zoom, and they read a scene together, and it was like they were the characters,” Kimbis said. “It was really the chemistry read that solidified them, and that’s how I ended up bringing them both onto the project.”
When it came to the filming process, Kimbis credited many of her peers for their assistance and for helping bring her project to life.
“I was so lucky to have a producer, and I know that a lot of other people making thesis projects did not, and I don’t think I could have handled all of that by myself, that and the logistical aspect of emailing everybody involved in the project and communicating with everybody involved in the project, which is so many different people,” Kimbis said. “When you have a producer who’s able to handle all of that logistical stuff, it makes the creative side of it so much less stressful.”
Kimbis also praised the collaborative community within the Film and Media Studies Program, saying that both professors and fellow students helped her greatly throughout.
“It’s somewhat of a small department, so almost everybody on the faculty that’s involved in production knows something about my project or has seen or read about parts of my project, and they’ve all at different points given me helpful feedback,” Kimbis said. “On the other side [are] all the students, the other people that are all doing senior thesis projects in FMS this year, we’re a really great group. … Throughout the whole process, we’ve been able to give each other feedback and help each other make production decisions or editing decisions. Most of us were on each other’s sets.”
Kimbis said she did not go into the creative process with a specific message. Rather, she was focused on creating a character-driven story. She hopes her film can inspire others to be creative and encourage them to break down the boundaries of what people think student films can be.
“I think a lot of the discourse around student filmmaking is very much like, either you have to make stories that relate to you, or they always say, ‘Write what you know.’ I feel like that’s a lot of advice given to screenwriters, but I don’t know anything about being in the mob. I don’t know anything about being a hit woman, but … you don’t need to put yourself in a box. [You don’t need] to think, ‘I can only make one certain kind of work,’ or, ‘I need to make a story that is a reflection of me or my direct experience,’” Kimbis said. “I think you can go outside the bounds of that and have fun with it. [You can] try new things and try to make new worlds and new characters and new situations.”
