August 19, 2012
The industry is shocked and mourning the death of director Tony Scott, 68, whose filmography includes Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Man on Fire, Deja Vu, Crimson Tide and Unstoppable. He also is known as a founding father of production companies RSA and Scott Free…Tribal DDB New York has hired Jason Milano to serve as creative director. He brings more than 12 years under his belt crafting branded experiences for clients such as: 2k games, Adler Planetarium, Ally Bank, American Express, Beer Nuts, The Chicago Building Commission, Ford Motor Company, Nivea, Omnicom Group, Sony, Starwood Hotels, and W Hotels. At Tribal DDB he will be working on H&R Block and Pfizer’s Thermacare and Children’s Advil accounts. He previously was vice president/creative director at Digitas…..The Production Music Association—which promotes and protects the rights and interests of publishers and composers of music for use in film, television, radio and new media-has elected Warner/Chappell Production Music CEO/president Randy Thornton to the post of chairman…. Media company Gannett Co. has bought BLiNQ Media LLC, a company that helps businesses advertise on social networks such as Facebook…..
August 17, 2007
Director Sebastien Chantrel has joined Santa Monica, Calif.-based TWC (Thomas Winter Cooke) for exclusive commercialmaking representation in the U.S. He was formerly handled stateside by Identity, New York….Director/DP Matt Goodman has joined Santa Monica-based Plum Productions for commercials….FilmCore Editorial has promoted Jon Ettinger to managing director, overseeing its shops in Santa Monica, San Francisco and New York. Ettinger, who’s served as executive producer of the San Francisco office for the past dozen years—a title he continues to hold—will be at the helm of national operations for the editorial/post house. Ettinger succeeds Steve McCoy, co-founder of FilmCore, who recently retired from the company….Phasmatrope Studios, a Haverford, Pennsylvania shop, has added director Guy Quinlan to its roster and opened a New York office under the aegis of Christine DoRego who was formerly a producer at Dallas-based advertising agency The Richards Group….
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