DDB NY has added Chris Klein and Alan Leber as executive producers. Klein will serve as EP on the Time Warner Cable and Johnson & Johnson Beauty accounts. Prior to joining DDB, he worked for eight years at J. Walter Thompson and oversaw production for a range of clients, including Rolex, Puma, Royal Caribbean, and many Nestlé and J&J brands. During that time, he picked up awards from Cannes, The Art Directors Club and the AICP Show.
Leber joins DDB from creative agency Love & War, where he led the production team through 360 branding projects including the launch of Chef Geoffrey Zakarian’s Beverly Hills restaurant Georgie. Earlier in his career, Leber headed production teams at The Barbarian Group for Samsung, and at Etihad Airways.
The arrival of Klein and Leber supports the shift in structure that DDB NY’s production department has been undergoing over the past year. Led by Madison Wharton, DDB NY’s chief production officer, the department has shifted to a multidisciplinary, integrated production model. This shift was a linchpin for the agency’s newly defined processes and a necessary step in delivering on ideas that live at the intersection of data, creativity and technology.
Wharton commented, “We are creating a production team of cross-athletes, and Chris and Alan’s arrival adds additional depth and breadth to the department. Whether it be creating long-form choreographed films like #CoolerInCotton or quickly developing customized dog ear muffs for State Farm, our producers have to be able to switch gears at a moment’s notice. Chris and Alan’s expertise and craftsmanship build upon our promise to deliver a multifaceted production team.”
Klein has experience in writing, strategy, and both broadcast and music production. Leber’s background includes platform development and management, content creation, branding and design, and social management.
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