Mistress, a multi-disciplinary creative agency, has made recent strategic personnel moves in an effort to strengthen leadership at its Los Angeles headquarters and bolster their creative services in the Hamburg, Germany office.
The agency has promoted Ben Beale to associate creative director in its L.A. office. Originally from Grey UK in London, Beale joined Mistress last year as creative director. In a simultaneous move, Mistress has hired Rory Forrest, also a former creative director from Grey UK, as an associate creative director at Mistress.tech to add creative firepower to the agency’s Hamburg operation. A partnership between the agency and the pioneering internet and software company freiheit.com, Mistress.tech focuses on creating software and technological marketing platforms for brands.
Forrest and Beale had worked together as a creative team at Grey London, on such brands as Lucozade and Macleans. Graduates of the Bucks Ad School in London, their work includes print, broadcast, viral video and digital campaigns. They also spearheaded a host of original creative projects, such as an exhibition of social media profile pics in the London Portrait Gallery and the Louvre, and generated royal wedding messages for William and Kate in the form of freestyle raps. Beale’s recent work with Mistress includes the controversial stunt to launch VH1’s Naked Dating series while also leading agency’s PayPal business which has seen PayPal go up against Apple’s iWallet.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More