Creative studio World Famous has secured Claire & Company for West Coast representation in commercials, broadcast, immersive and branded content….DP Gyula Pados has recently completed principal photography on The Maze Runner 2: The Scorch Trials directed by Wes Ball and starring Dylan O’Brien. Pados is now available for commercials, television, and feature films through The Skouras Agency, Santa Monica…DP Phil Méheux, BSC has signed with Dattner Dispoto and Associates (DDA) for representation. Méheux will be feted with the honorary International Award at the 29th Annual ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography on Feb. 15 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. His career spans four decades and includes The Long Good Friday, The Fourth Protocol, GoldenEye and Casino Royale (2006). He was president of the BSC from 2002-2006. DDA has also booked DP Sam Levy on director Rebecca Miller’s feature Maggie’s Plan. DDA recent television bookings include DP Frank Perl on season 6 of Rizzoli & Isles (Network: TNT, Production Company: Warner Horizon Television); DP Ross Riege on the pilot for Quality Time (Network: TBS, Production Company: Entertainment One Television, Contend); DP Stephen St. John on splinter unit/inserts for the series Sleepy Hollow (Network: Fox, Production Company: K/O Paper Products); and costume designer Jill Lucas on season two of Murder In The First (Network: TNT, Production Company: TNT Originals)….Direct marketing firm Platinum Advertising has hired Bill Rowland as chief sales officer. He serves as a sr. corporate member at his new roost. Rowland co-founded a direct marketing company in 1999 that brought in more than $120 million in revenue. He also enjoyed success with direct sales in the healthcare industry as well as doing significant work for several Fortune 500 companies….
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More