Director Dane Hanson has joined Superlounge for U.S. spot representation, a signing that sprung from his meeting the production company's co-founder, director Jordan Brady, at this year’s Friars Club Film Festival. At that fest, which took place in April, the Hanson-directed short Theme Song City opened for I Am Road Comic, Brady’s follow-up feature to the cult favorite I Am Comic.
When Hanson met Brady, he recalled, “I shared my longtime ambition of directing spots. I’d acted in so many commercials, trailing great directors on set, that I’ve been grooming myself for this since I was twenty.”
Hanson was hugely influenced by the early 1990’s TV show Parker Lewis Can’t Lose. “I was fortunate to work with Billy Jayne (on an award-winning Cider Jack campaign), who’d acted on the show and became a commercial director,” said Hanson. “I knew then it was what I wanted to do.” Oddly, Brady acted on that series in 1992.
“In addition to being funny on screen, Dane is a comedy writer/director with short films that have gotten literally millions of hits,” Brady said. “He has so much to offer the ad game.”
Regardless of the medium, Hanson is going for laughs. In fact, he is currently the producer of Laughs, a new FOX offering that showcases emerging stand-up comics honing their craft. The show is airing in key markets such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Dallas, and has been picked up for additional episodes. It is a fitting project for a filmmaker whose style is rooted in realism. “I like everything to be played super real, usually with very high stakes, nothing silly or random,” said Hanson. “Comedy comes from what’s most important to the players.”
Hanson wrote, directed and starred in The Female Orgasm Law which won the Audience Award for Best Comedy Short at the 2012 Friars Club Comedy Festival. Whether it be as a filmmaker or as one of their hand-picked judges, Hanson has been part of The Friars Club Festival every year since 2011, starting with his viral hit, Lie Detector. Hanson acted in more than 60 national commercials and for 11 years ran the critically-acclaimed live sketch comedy show, “Sitcoms Blow”. Working as head writer and director for 65 actors at its peak, and performing more than 1,500 live shows, “Sitcoms Blow” is where Hanson really developed his comedic writing and directing tools. “In its second iteration, new cast members started asking what they should do and I ended up directing,” he said. “Blow” was the main stage show Saturday nights at The Improv in Hollywood, finding a home at The Lab, the club’s experimental comedy theatre.
Hanson joins a Superlounge directorial roster comprised of Brady, Daniel Sheppard, Ben Tedesco, Brett Wagner and the duo Jacob Slade.
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