PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Keep an eye out for newcomer Nita-Josee Hanna, currently kicking ass and spewing sass in the new monster flick, PG: Psycho Goreman (read our review here). The extremely talented Hanna steals the show as Mimi, the fast talking queen of one-liners who wraps the giant from another world around her little finger and forces him to do her bidding, all while still playing games with her brother and disobeying her parents. I caught up with Nita-Josee, and we talked about what intrigued her about Mimi, how she got her start in acting, and of course, horror movies.
PopHorror: I watched PG: Psycho Goreman a few weeks ago, and you are fabulous! It’s so funny and witty.
Nita-Josee Hanna: Oh, thank you!
PopHorror: So what intrigued you about the part of Mimi and Psycho Goreman and made you want to be a part of the project?
Nita-Josee Hanna: I thought it was an interesting part of the film and such a different character than you’re used to seeing. You’re used to seeing this little girl that’s very polite and sweet, and she was just such the opposite of that and very unique. That’s really what caught my attention. I also see a lot of myself in Mimi. Sometimes I can be a little sassy, too. I have my moments. And I thought she was such an interesting role, and I hadn’t seen anything like it, so it interested me right away.
PopHorror: I agree. You don’t normally see that, and I have to say that when she started talking, I was not expecting half of the stuff that came out of her mouth. What was your favorite part of filming?
Nita-Josee Hanna: My favorite part of filming was when I got to be with PG just because it was so cool going to work everyday… I don’t even like calling it work, because it was so much fun. But you get to go to this part every day and work with monsters, which I thought was one of the coolest things. I also liked working with Owen [Myre]. I had such a strong bond with him and being with him for a month, it’s something I will never forget.
PopHorror: That’s really awesome! I read online that you started entertaining at the young age of three. What made you want to be an actor?
Nita-Josee Hanna: Yeah, so I’ve been entertaining, as you said. I’ve been singing, dancing, and doing musical theater since I was about three-years-old. So I’ve always been in the spotlight and on stage. One year, I attended this competition called The Canadian Model and Talent Convention, and I had put myself down. It was in Toronto, and I put my name down for singing and dancing. That’s it. When I got to the competition and I had listened to this seminar, I realized that I wanted to do a lot more than just that, so I put myself in some monologue competitions and commercials… Everything that you could ever imagine in acting. Some of these which were the next day at 9:00 AM and were going until almost 9:00 at night.
I ended up winning everything. I swept the whole competition, as some might say. I got first place for singing and first place for dancing, Canadian Actor Of The Year and all these things, so then I got about 25 callbacks and ended up getting agents and managers. It really just took off from there!
PopHorror: Wow! That’s very impressive! If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Nita-Josee Hanna: If I could collaborate with anybody… I’m very inspired right now by Ariana Grande. I like her music. I also like Billie Eilish’s music. I think she has a very, very nice voice. I’d like to collab with them one day, I think that would be pretty cool. In the acting industry, one of my favorite actors is Will Smith. I think he’s such a great actor, and he’s hilarious. The last movie I watched with him in it was Aladdin and he did such a great job in that. I’d love to work with him, for sure.
PopHorror: That would be a lot of fun. He seems like he would be a fun guy. I know that Covid has stalled a lot of projects and things and have cancelled, but what’s up next for you?
Nita-Josee Hanna: At the moment, there’s nothing really too, too big that I’m working on, but things are definitely starting to pick up now that PG is going to be out in the world. A lot more auditions and reaching out left and right, so I think you’re going to hear a lot more about me very soon.
PopHorror: Good! I’m glad. You really impressed me in PG, so I’m excited to see what you have coming up for you next.
Nita-Josee Hanna: Thank you!
PopHorror: One last question for you, Nita. What is your favorite scary movie?
Nita-Josee Hanna: My favorite scary movie is actually The Purge. Like, all of them. I have them on repeat almost every night.
Thank you so much to Nita-Josee for taking the time to speak with us. Be sure to catch PG: Psycho Goreman, now in theaters and on VOD!
