Director Grant Sputore–whose acclaimed sci-fi feature I Am Mother, starring Hillary Swank and Rose Byrne, premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and as a Netflix Original earlier this month–has signed with Park Pictures for commercials in the U.S. and U.K. This marks his first ad representation in those countries. He continues to be handled in Australia by production house Scoundrel.
Sputore hails from Australia and has won recognition for his work in commercials, including a Cannes Lions finalist nod for “Film Craft: Direction” for his St. John Ambulance “Break the Barrier” spot. Sputore has also directed award-winning film shorts and TV series. The director has a BA in Film and Television from Curtin University of Technology.
I Am Mother, Sputore explained, is a “love letter to sci-fi,” influenced by beloved films in the genre. The feature, set following humanity’s near mass-extinction, follows a teen girl who is raised by a maternal droid. The intelligent young woman has her world turned upside down when she encounters another human for the first time. The feature directorial debut of Sputore, from a script by Michael Lloyd Green, I Am Mother is based on a story by Sputore and Green.
Park Pictures EP Jackie Kelman Bisbee said, “After seeing I Am Mother, we knew we wanted to work with Grant, in short form and long form work. Grant has everything that Park Pictures looks for in a new director. He’s gifted at capturing performance, with impeccable art direction, and is able to tell a captivating story. Because Grant can write and develop films, along with his exceptional execution, he will play an important role at Park as the landscape of our business grows.”
Sputore was recently tapped by Warner Bros. to direct the upcoming sci-fi thriller Augmented, produced by Margot Robbie.
Sputore comes aboard the Park Pictures roster shortly after the production company won 19 awards at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, including the coveted Palme D’Or. Park additionally earned two Grand Prix honors, a Titanium Lion and other accolades for the Nike commercial “Dream Crazy,” featuring Colin Kaepernick.
“I have been a fan of Park Pictures for many years,” Sputore said, “I’m excited to live up to everything that the brand stands for in terms of the caliber of filmmakers, and the scope of work in films and commercials.”
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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