Eddie Mensore grew up in the Appalachian town of New Martinsville, West Virginia. He saw firsthand the devastation the opioid epidemic caused to the region as a whole.
That experience was the inspiration for his upcoming film “Hazard.”
“This was the very first screenplay that I ever wrote, many, many years ago, and it was due to my best friend's brother who was living in Hazard [KY]. He's an addict, and he's still an addict today,” Mensore, the writer and director of the film, said. “I wanted to get in the movies, and I wanted to write something from my heart, and so that's why I tackled it.”
The film follows the story of a young man from the tri-city area of Benham, Lynch and Cumberland, Kentucky trying to escape a cycle of addiction that has impacted himself and those around him.
"As an actor, you hope that you can find projects that mean something, that will be impactful stories to tell for the communities they're about and for people that have gone through similar struggles,” said Dave Davis, who plays John a police officer who is trying to find a way to combat the sale of opioids in the region.
When Mensore was writing and directing the film he wanted to imbue the film with compassion, something that comes across in the way actors chose to play their roles.
“As actors, we have to feel compassion for our characters,” said Alex Roe, who plays Will, the film’s male lead. “It was very easy to approach Will with love and compassion because of this script that [Mensore] wrote.
Roe, who is British, came to the area for a month before filming to prepare for the role. He spent time in the community the film was shot in to understand the Appalachian culture and dialect.
He also spent that at addiction recovery meetings to ensure he could play the role of someone facing addiction in a true and respectful manner. It was important to the entire cast and crew that they avoid being extractive of the community that welcomed them.
Mensore spent time in the film to show the beauty of a region that many people often write off.
“It's pretty easy to find the beauty in the eastern Kentucky mountains, you know, 360 degrees everywhere you look is beauty,” Mensore said. “The community is part of those beautiful mountains. Everywhere you look, you find beauty in the mountains and the people.”
In the release of the film, Mensore wanted to make sure they returned to the community the film is about.
Advanced community screenings will happen in the region in early January ahead of its Jan. 10 theatrical release in theaters across Appalachia and other cities in the commonwealth.
Mensore and the film’s cast hope they can impart the compassion they felt from the Harlan County community and while making the film onto audiences.
“It's always important with my films and especially this, that [for] people on the outside who don't live in Appalachia, can look at these people as humans,” Mensore said. “Whatever addictions someone's going through in California or New York or overseas somewhere these are the same type of human beings.”
