By Robert Goldrich
BEVERLY HILLS --Director Patricia Murphy, who continues to maintain her London-based Patricia Murphy Films for European representation, has joined Saville Productions, Beverly Hills, for ad work in the U.S. Murphy was last repped stateside by Bravo Zulu, Santa Monica.
Among Murphy’s credits are spots for McDonald’s, Swatch and Whirlpool. The latter, done via Publicis, London, and Publicis & Hal Riney, Chicago, brought a visually driven fantasy feel to the normally mundane product category of household appliances.
Another atypical spot helmed by Murphy was “Fat,” which plays at first like a fashion/beauty portrait of an attractive woman who’s wearing nothing but a strategically placed towel. The camera moves around the female, almost romancing her from different angles. A voiceover relates, “More and more people like Julia are having cosmetic surgery to overcome the effects of excess fat.”
But the commercial takes a sudden turn when a spark ignites. Flames burst out, seemingly engulfing the woman’s face. In another quick shot, skin appears to wither under intense heat. These abstract glimpses heighten the horror unfolding before our eyes and underscore the devastating damage–both physical and psychological–wrought by fire. A voiceover interjects, “Don’t fill pans more than a third. Don’t allow grease and fat to build up. Don’t leave unattended and never throw water on burning oil.” Then in stark white letters against a black backdrop, a message reads, “Each year in over 72,000 house fires, 450 people die and 14,000 are injured. Don’t be one of them.” Below this text appears a logo for the Kent Fire Brigade in the U.K.
Conceived by a creative team at McCann Erickson, London, “Fat” gained inclusion into SHOOT’s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery in 2002.
Murphy broke into the business as a director’s assistant to Tony Kaye of Tony Kaye Films, London. (Kaye is now with bicoastal Supply & Demand). She then moved into directing projects at the company before launching her own Patricia Murphy Films.
Over the years, Murphy’s work has garnered recognition at such shows as the London D&AD Awards, the Mobius Awards and the Montreaux competition. At the D&AD show, she won best and silver direction honors for, respectively, Kodak’s “The Birthday Party in ’92 out of Young & Rubicam, Paris, and Kiss FM’s “Are You Tuned In?” in ’91 for Abbott Mead Vickers/BBDO, London.
While Saville maintains a roster of select feature filmmakers for commercials, Murphy comes aboard a company lineup of established spot directors that includes Amon, Sebastian Chantrel, Frank Devos, Ivo, Lalli Jonsson, Adriana Laham, Agustin Marques, Dan Nathan, Juan Tartuto, Sng Tong Beng, Jeff Tremaine, Paul Vos and Jason Wingrove.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More