After wrapping his first feature, helmer returns to ad arena
Director Tim Godsall, formerly of Biscuit Filmworks LA, has joined Anonymous Content for commercial representation in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. The signing grew out of a relationship that developed while Anonymous produced Godsall’s upcoming feature film debut, Len and Company.
In the spring of this year, Godsall began production on the feature, Len and Company, starring Rhys Ifans, Juno Temple and Jack Kilmer. The film centers on Len Black (Ifans), a successful but miserable music producer who flees to his house in upstate New York to start a period of self-imposed exile, only to have his solitude shattered by his estranged son (Kilmer) and the pop sensation (Temple) he has created.
About the experience of making a first film and landing at a new roost for commercial production, Godsall said, “Getting this movie made would have been almost impossible without the help of Steve Golin and the Anonymous team. Making a little independent feature is such a precarious and intense experience, but during the process of making it my respect for Steve and Anonymous kept growing. When the time came to get back into commercials, it made sense to do it with those guys. They’ve got great directors and very smart people running the place. Now I’m just excited to wade into a really good commercial project.”
Executive producer Steve Golin echoed the sentiment, saying, “We’ve long admired Tim’s work and wanted to be in business with him for quite a while. The filmmaking process went so well that we decided to join forces and work together.”
Godsall is an internationally acclaimed commercial director known for his offbeat brand of dialogue and performance-driven comedy. He has done high-profile work for brands like Axe, Old Spice, Southern Comfort, ESPN, FedEx and XBOX. An expert of visual storytelling, Godsall is the recipient of over two-dozen Cannes Lions, various Clios, Andys, BTAAs, as well as a DGA nomination, leading him to be named the most awarded commercial director in the world by the 2013 Gunn Report. Godsall's DGA nomination was for directorial achievement in 2010, earned on the basis of three entries: DirecTV's "Opulence" out of Grey New York, Hyundai's "Bull" from Innocean Worldwide Americas, and HBO's "Eastbound & Mom" for BBDO New York.
Godsall’s own transition from advertising to features, with the support of Anonymous, exemplifies the company’s ability to offer directorial talent opportunities to expand into various formats. The cross-genre network at Anonymous allows their directors to explore working in the commercial, feature, and television divisions, all under the same roof.
Len and Company adds to the list of longer-format projects in the works at Anonymous, including producing the much-anticipated next iteration of HBO’s drama True Detective. Anonymous produced and Cary Fukanaga directed all eight episodes of its freshman season, which earned Fukunaga the Emmy for Outstanding Directing. Anonymous also produced Steven Soderbergh’s new TV series, The Knick, the dark 1900s-era drama starring Clive Owen, which has helped to revitalize the Cinemax network brand.
In the features sphere, currently in pre-production is director Alejandro G Iñárritu’s latest film, The Revenant, about a fur trapper, who in the 1820s set out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, and begins shooting this fall. Also in pre-production is director Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight. The film is based on the true story of how The Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation within the local Catholic Archdiocese, and features an all-star cast that includes Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Stanely Tucci, Rachel McAdams, Billy Crudup, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery and Brian d’Arcy James.
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