Boutique commercial production company Native Content has signed director Tony Franklin for U.S. representation.
Franklin’s advertising career began at Target where he served as an in-house art director while also directing music videos and documentary shorts on the side. His shorts were well received including Miss Monroe and Derby Man which were both shortlisted for Best Documentary at the One Screen Film Festival; Miss Monroe and Legends of the Isles have also been featured on The Atlantic. After a decade at Target, Franklin decided to pursue directing full-time and quickly earned success as a freelance commercial director, working with agencies such as Leo Burnett and BBDO to create spots for BMW, Pizza Hut, Purina Dog Chow, Hormel, Gatorade, The Florida Lottery, and others. He recently wrapped a shoot with Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles that will air in the coming weeks, and a new docu short The St. Paul Kid will appear on The Atlantic.
Native marks Franklin’s first formal commercial representation. He joins a company roster which includes Ben Jacks, Eivind Holmboe, Iain Mackenzie, Rich Lee, Russ Lamoureux, The Cronenweths and Tom Dey.
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