Josh Plasse returns to Coastal Virginia to direct The Pirate King, a dramedy movie starring Rob Riggle as a veteran who finds redemption from PTSD and addiction by joining a group of pirate reenactors.
By Butch Maier
Life and moviemaking take detours. Few people stay on one career path. Few stories find a direct route to the big screen.
“There are two paths here colliding with one another to form the creation of the project,” said Josh Plasse, a former Virginia Beach resident who is director and co-writer of the dramedy movie The Pirate King.
The first path involved Virginia Beach’s Todd Willis, Plasse’s uncle, a veteran “who ended up finding a second life in pirate reenacting,” the director said. “It turned his life around and gave him his community, his kinship.”
The second path involved a run—Operation 22—Plasse participated in for suicide awareness. The run was so named since the veteran suicide rate is 22 per day.
“Along that run, we raised money for an organization called Stop Soldier Suicide, and we stopped along the run and filmed survivor families so they could tell their stories,” Plasse said. “They really resonated with me.”
Plasse and writing partner Brev Moss merged the paths in the script for The Pirate King.
‘THE PERFECT CHOICE’
In The Pirate King, Rob Riggle portrays a veteran struggling with PTSD and addiction who finds unexpected redemption when he joins a group of pirate reenactors, giving him a chance to fight for custody of his daughter and rebuild the life he thought was lost forever.
The movie was made with a production budget of $2 million and shot in 18 days last summer in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, and Yorktown.
In real life, Riggle served 23 years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“As a combat veteran and somebody who is good at comedy and drama, he was just the perfect choice for the film,” Plasse said. “This is going to be a big moment for him. My hope is that this is his Steve Carell Foxcatcher moment.”
Carell earned an Academy Award nomination for his dramatic turn in that 2014 film. Plasse hopes Riggle can receive similar recognition for his work. “I mean, he’s unrecognizable in the film,” Plasse said. “It’s very, very heavy—obviously, talking about suicide. “Even though he is inherently funny as a human being, his performance is raw. Everyone who has watched it has commented on that. He’s really powerful in the film.”
Plasse has pledged to give a portion of his proceeds from The Pirate King to Stop Soldier Suicide. A sensitive question loomed. Has suicide affected Plasse personally? “Yes,” he said. “No one in my family, but the short answer is ‘yes.’”
DELIVERING THE PAPER
Plasse wrote casting offer letters to Riggle and Jordana Brewster, best known for her role in The Fast and the Furious franchise, on pirate parchment paper.
“She said she was personally touched by the letter,” Plasse said. “We were really lucky to get her.” Matt Barr plays David, a pirate reenactor who is a bad influence on Todd. “He tries to draw Rob’s character into a real life of piracy,” Plasse said. Bitsie Tulloch plays Tess, Todd’s ex-wife. The film also features Billie Lourd, Carrie Fisher’s daughter.
The Pirate King is scheduled to hit theaters this year with a Virginia Beach premiere and—Plasse hopes—a wide theatrical release.
DETOURS
Plasse attended Cox High School in Virginia Beach and Virginia Commonwealth University, where he caught the acting bug, took a detour, and headed for Hollywood.
Plasse made one-episode appearances on such television shows as Criminal Minds, Grown-ish, and Grey’s Anatomy before landing a four-episode arc as Wes on iCarly. That was followed by four episodes as Officer Jones on All the Queen’s Men and 34 episodes as Luke Baxter on The Baxters.
Directing and producing have taken his focus in a different direction.
“I used to want to win an Oscar as an actor,” Plasse said. “Now I want my art to have the most tangible impact possible.”
How would Plasse describe himself now? As a writer-director-producer-actor-awareness advocate? Some other way?
“I think it depends on who I’m talking to,” Plasse said. “These days, I say I am an actor-filmmaker, and more and more, becoming an entrepreneur.
“Acting is how I make a living. It’s where my heart lies—as is filmmaking. I’ve got a production company now that’s starting to take off.”
Plasse, Moss, and Nidal Kahl formed Pine Bay Pictures—a combination of Oregon’s pine trees and the Chesapeake Bay—to make movies primarily in those two places. Kahl and Moss are from Oregon.
“We’re hoping to make films that have powerful, meaningful stories that impact the culture,” Plasse said.
Pine Bay’s team served as executive producers on Late Fame, which stars Willem Dafoe, played at the Venice Film Festival, and will be in theaters this summer. The company is producing the $2 million movie Red Ink, about a World War II journalist.
“As I have gotten older, and I’ve started to understand the other intricacies of the business, the entrepreneurial journeys have grown, in the sense of understanding film finance, understanding production finance,” Plasse said. “Starting a couple of other companies on the side. I have an [education-and-faith] app I am developing. Sort of using what I have learned in Hollywood and breaking into other entrepreneurial endeavors.”
NASHVILLE…FOR NOW
Plasse stayed in L.A. for a decade. He and his wife moved to Nashville two years ago.
“We love it out here,” Plasse said. “We’ve got a little log cabin with some land, so we couldn’t pass up on that after being in the metropolis of Los Angeles for so long.
“So, we’re here right now, and that’s also been an interesting spark to the entrepreneurial stuff, just meeting people out here and do very different things. There’s a whole sect of the entertainment business out here that’s not present in Los Angeles, so I’ve been able to meet a lot of other filmmakers and actors and directors, and that’s been a blast.”
Plasse senses his path has at least one more detour. “I do think that within the next few years—you know, my whole [extended] family is still back in Virginia Beach—so I do think, in time, we’ll come back there,” Plasse said, “but as of this moment, we’re loving Nashville.”
Butch Maier
