Directors Steve Beck and Peter Gornstein, CG/visual effects supervisor and artist Ivo Horvat, and line/VFX producer Kathy Tishler have teamed to form Saboteur, a live-action/effects collective that has come aboard the directorial roster of Passport Films, a Santa Monica shop headed by owners/executive producers Patti and David Coulter.
Beck’s directing chops span features and commercials. On the former front, he helmed the movies Ghost Ship and 13 Ghosts. Earlier in his career, Beck served as the visual effects art director on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Abyss and The Hunt for Red October.
Beck’s prior spotmaking roost in the U.S. was Rhythm+Hues, where he meshed live action with VFX and CGI. Beck has to his credit several Super Bowl commercials over the years, including Nissan’s “Pigeons” for TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles, Primestar’s “Runaway Pipe” via now defunct Adler Boschetto Peebles, and Pontiac Grand Prix’s “Coyote” for the former DMB&B Detroit. His spot endeavors span such clients as Volkswagen, McDonald’s, Chevrolet, Gatorade and First Union Bank.
For the latter, which was out of Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, Beck directed “Launch,” “Noise” and “Cityscape” which swept the visual effects category and earned a production design honor at the AICP Show. Beck helmed the campaign through the since closed commercial production arm of Industrial Light+Magic where he also turned out such work as Gatorade Fierce’s “Raptor vs. Raptor,” a SHOOT Top Spot, for what was then known as FCB Chicago.
Over the years, Beck-directed commercials have gained recognition at the AICP Show, the Clio Awards, Cannes, the London International Awards, the Siggraph Electronic Theatre, and the International Automotive Advertising Awards. Recently Beck had been active in the international commercialmaking market, turning out projects in Italy, Spain, Turkey, Dubai and Russia.
He has also collaborated with freelance producer Tishler regularly over the past decade, and developed a working rapport with Gornstein and Horvat in recent years, laying the groundwork for them to now come together as Saboteur, an L.A.-based collective.
The only Saboteur member not currently in Southern California is Gornstein who’s in Denmark. But he plans to relocate to L.A. later this year. Gornstein has been a concept artist on numerous features, including Contact, Stuart Little, Anaconda, DieHard 3, Snow Falling on Cedars and James And The Giant Peach for Sony Pictures Imageworks. He’s also served as lead concept developer for IO interactive on several video games. This conceptual and technical expertise has supported his visual storytelling as a director. He was a nominee for Best Young Director at Cannes in ’04. He made an initial splash directorially with the short film Sunrise (winner of a Fuji Film international short film award, Fotokem and Panavision awards). Gornstein’s short Peaceforce was honored with the Canal+Prix Award at the short film festival Clermont Ferrand and is currently making its way through the festival circuit this summer slated to gain exposure at fests in London and Sao Paulo.
At press time, Gornstein was wrapping a Danish commercial for Aalborg Airport. He is currently in development on two feature film projects, one titled On Thin Ice with NDS New Danish Screen, the talent development division of the Danish Film Institute, and Misofilm. The action thriller is set at the North Pole.
Horvat has worked at a variety of industry stalwarts such as Industrial Light + Magic, Sony Imageworks, Imaginary Forces, Uncharted Territory and Zoic Studios. His artistry in conceptual design, matte painting and visual effect supervision is on display in 60-plus feature films, commercials, and most recently the aforementioned short film Peaceforce. His contributions can be seen in 2012, Star Wars: Episode One, The Mummy Returns, Galaxy Quest, Superman Returns, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Spiderman, and The Chronicles of Narnia to name a few. While heading up the matte painting department at Sony Imageworks, he devised a camera projection system created by Maxon for Cinema 4D, which has since become a VFX industry standard.
Tishler brings 20 years of production experience to Saboteur and Passport. Her spotmaking exploits span VFX, automotive, comedy, beauty, tabletop, kids and celebs. She plans to also work on the business development front for Saboteur.
Saboteur will team with Passport on pre-pro, production and post, offering clients a streamlined process and tapping into other talent and resources that the collective’s members have forged relationships with over the years.
“Overnight Success” Has Been More Than A Decade In The Making For Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson
Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson, two of the stars of Netflix's whodunit "The Perfect Couple," have news for you if you want to call them breakouts: They've been working in this business for more than a decade.
Fahy made her TV debut in 2009 in an episode of "Gossip Girl." Hewson's first big film role was in 2011's "This Must Be the Place." They do concede, however, that it's recent TV roles — "The White Lotus" for Fahy and "Bad Sisters" for Hewson — that have led to new frontiers of opportunity.
Susanne Bier, who directed "The Perfect Couple," says both Fahy and Hewson are "going to be big stars."
"They certainly have proper, profound star quality, Both of them in very different ways," Bier says. "Both are incredibly creative, incredibly smart, and also have a impressive insight as to who they are. You can be a great actor or actress and not necessarily really know who you are yourself. And they do."
Hewson, 33, whose dad is U2 front man Bono, may have grown up in a famous family but she's now in demand in her own right. She will next be seen in a second season of "Bad Sisters, " out in November. She's in Noah Baumbach's next film, alongside Adam Sandler, George Clooney and Riley Keough. She's also been cast in Steven Spielberg's next production and is set to star opposite Murray Bartlett in a racing series for Hulu.
Fahy, 34, is in production on a limited series with Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock called "Sirens," written by Molly Smith Metzler ("Maid") for Netflix. She also has two films in the can with Josh O'Connor ("The Crown," "Challengers") and Brandon Sklenar ("It Ends With Us").
The two actors spoke candidly about this phase of their careers. This interview has been condensed for clarity and... Read More