Libby Mintz is a talented actress known for roles in films like Fired Up! and the tv show “Modern Family,” but the picture has always been bigger for her. She and her childhood best friend Janell Shirtcliff co-wrote the upcoming movie Habit together. Mintz also stars in the film next to Bella Thorne, Jose Ho, Paris Jackson, Hana Mae Lee, and Gavin Rossdale.
Habit follows a street smart party girl who gets mixed up in a violent drug deal and finds a possible way out by masquerading as a nun.
I had a few minutes to chat with Mintz about the movie, how she got where she is and the inspiration for Habit.
Nashville Noise: You co-wrote the film with your childhood best friend, Janell Shirtcliff, how did you two meet?
LM: We met in the halls of W.B. Ray High School. She had just moved to Corpus Christi, Texas from L.A. and everyone was talking about the new girl from L.A. When I saw her, she was so adorable! Janell is really thin but scrappy and I just knew I had to be friends with her. I invited her over that day and she lived with me for a while when we were in High School. We were an unstoppable duo but I knew right when I saw her that I loved her.
NN: What inspired you two to write it?
LM: We both wanted to do bigger things in the industry and we didn’t think we were getting those opportunities, so we wanted to make it for ourselves. Janell’s esthetic is gorgeous and unique and she was telling me she had this idea of these bad girl nuns and had a couple of images. I had a past life reading where I found out that I was an Irish nun, and it didn’t feel right, but he was like, “No, you were a bad girl, you got sent there.” We were at these low points in our lives and we decided to do this. Janell had just had a baby and she would come over after pre-school dropoff. We would write and it happened really quickly and very organically.
NN: What’s it like working with your best friend to create a project like this?
LM: Hopefully, people can feel the intimacy. We know what we want everything to look like cause we get each other in that way. But we would fight all the time, like crazy, knockdown drag-out fights, but I think it was good because we were so honest and we would try to find that middle ground.
NN: When writing the lead role, was Bella Thorne the person you had in mind for it?
LM: Yes, Bella was always in our minds. I think she was so perfect and she did a great job.
NN: I really loved the diversity of the film’s costumes. Did you have a favorite outfit?
LM: I loved the catsuit and the black wig because it really takes me out of how I look with my blonde pixie. We never planned on me wearing that wig. It came in the makeup trailer, and we were having so much fun with all of them. I loved all the outfits, they are all so great, the pink number when we are fighting in the house. I like the way we did the costumes because it can exist in any time period too. You can’t totally put your finger on it.
NN: One of my favorite lines of the film is “The danger is not that God will stop forgiving us, but that we will stop seeking God’s forgiveness.” Where did that line come from?
LM: When you stop consulting God or caring about God, that’s where you lose your humanity. I was raised in a synagogue conservative Judaism and I was there several days a week and I was always thinking about these things. I went to an Episcopalian school and Jannel was really in love with Jesus when she was little. So we had always been thinking about this stuff. It just comes to a very interesting head in Habit.
Habit hits select theaters and VOD on Friday.
