Rooster Post in Toronto has hired Sam McLaren as partner and executive producer. She comes over from Fort York VFX.
A creative EP, McLaren has a talent for multi-faceted storytelling and is a veteran of the Canadian commercial film industry. Having started her career in production, she transitioned to postproduction and spent many years leading the editorial team at Panic & Bob Editing. She then worked at Fort York VFX as an executive producer, where she rounded out her postproduction knowledge by developing expertise in CG, visual effects and finishing. Throughout her career, she’s worked on numerous notable projects for brands including Ikea, Budweiser, Alexander Keiths, Ford, TD, CIBC and Canadian Tire.
McLaren’s commercial production work has won numerous awards. It includes FCB Canada’s “Anything But Sorry” for the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, which won 13 Cannes Lions, Vim’s “Prison Visitor,” directed by the The Perlorian Brothers, which won a Gold Lion in Cannes, and Sick Kids’ “Better Tomorrows,” directed by Mark Zibert, which won a Silver Health Lion. McLaren has also worked on many Super Bowl spots over the years out of DDB Chicago, a number of which topped the USA Today Ad Meter poll, including Bud Light’s “Magic Fridge,” and director Joe Pytka’s Budweiser commercials featuring the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales and Dalmatians.
Rooster Post is home to an award-winning roster of editors including, Michelle Czukar, Dave De Carlo, Christina Humphries, Marc Langley, Colin Murdock, Chris Parkins, Jeff Poremba, Paul Proulx, Brett Rostrup and Joey Whitelaw.
Review: Writer-Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s “Heretic”
"Heretic" opens with an unusual table setter: Two young missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are discussing condoms and why some are labeled as large even though they're all pretty much a standard size. "What else do we believe because of marketing?" one asks the other.
That line will echo through the movie, a stimulating discussion of religion that emerges from a horror movie wrapper. Despite a second-half slide and feeling unbalanced, this is the rare movie that combines lots of squirting blood and elevated discussion of the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
Our two church members — played fiercely by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East — are wandering around trying to covert souls when they knock on the door of a sweet-looking cottage. Its owner, Mr. Reed, offers a hearty "Good afternoon!" He welcomes them in, brings them drinks and promises a blueberry pie. He's also interested in learning more about the church. So far, so good.
Mr. Reed is, of course, if you've seen the poster, the baddie and he's played by Hugh Grant, who doesn't go the snarling, dead-eyed Hannibal Lecter route in "Heretic." Grant is the slightly bumbling, bashful and self-mocking character we fell in love with in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but with a smear of menace. He gradually reveals that he actually knows quite a bit about the Mormon religion — and all religions.
"It's good to be religious," he says jauntily and promises his wife will join them soon, a requirement for the church. Homey touches in his home include a framed "Bless This Mess" needlepoint on a wall, but there are also oddities, like his lights are on a timer and there's metal in the walls and ceilings.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood — who also... Read More