Filmmaker's The Immigrant is slated to debut at this month's Cannes Festival
Director/writer James Gray has come aboard biscuit filmworks for commercial representation worldwide except for France where he continues to be handled by Les Telecreateurs, Paris. Gray wrote and directed The Immigrant, a film starring Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Renner and Joaquin Phoenix, set to debut at the Cannes Film Festival this month. His most recent commercial effort, Citro๏ฟฝn’s “Impossible” starring Ewan McGregor and Vinessa Shaw–and produced by Les Telecreateurs–broke on air earlier this month; he has also directed for Martell Cognac and a L’Oreal campaign starring Patrick Dempsey.
Gray made his directorial debut in 1994 with Little Odessa, a critically acclaimed film, which received the Critics Award at the Deauville Film Festival as well as the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. That same year, he received nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay. In 2000 Gray wrote and directed The Yards, his second feature and his first with Joaquin Phoenix who would become a frequent collaborator, going on to star in his next three films. The drama premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000. Gray’s New York crime drama We Own the Night, (2007) stars Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes and Robert Duvall. The film received a Cesar nomination in 2008 for Best Foreign Film and screened in competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
Gray’s feature Two Lovers, (2008) then received nominations at the Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director and Best Female Lead. The Brooklyn-set drama stars Phoenix opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw and Isabella Rossellini. The film premiered in competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and went on to receive a Cesar nomination for Best Foreign Film in 2009.
Born in New York City, Gray grew up in Queens and attended the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television.
“Storytelling is mostly about economy, especially in features,” said Gray. “I love making commercials because you have to hone in on storytelling with even greater discipline and focus on the visual message and still communicate an idea with great speed, accuracy and effectiveness.”
Prior to biscuit, Gray was repped by Anonymous Content. He now joins a biscuit directorial roster that includes company co-founder Noam Murro, Andreas Nilsson, Aaron Ruell, Aaron Stoller, Christopher Riggert, Clay Weiner, Jeff Low, Malcolm Murray, Mike Maguire, Philippe Andre, Steve Rogers and Tim Godsall.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads โ essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More