Alkemy X has hired Lee Tone as creative director. Tone will focus on leading and implementing the creative vision for the company’s branded content division, facilitating nontraditional projects spanning web series, short films, experiential and interactive. He comes to Alkemy X with a 10-year career as a creative director and copywriter in the agency world, and with extensive experience in brand storytelling that blurs the lines between entertainment and advertising. He joins the team after a successful collaboration with Alkemy X on Samsung’s “Reframe This Space”–a four-episode home decor series that seamlessly infused Samsung’s Frame TV into original entertainment, earning over 30 million online impressions through influencer amplification.
Tone comes to Alkemy X from Barbarian, where he led campaigns for agency clients like Samsung, JBL and AB InBev. Prior to that, he lent his creative expertise to projects for Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, among numerous others. Notable career highlights include his work for the Samsung Galaxy s6 Edge+ and Note5 global launches. Throughout his career, he consistently endeavors to break new grounds in brand storytelling with bold concepts such as his work for Outback Steakhouse. He shook up traditional outdoor advertising for the restaurant chain, causing a commotion (and frantic 911 calls) with the illusion of billboards on fire to promote the brand’s Wood-fire Grill offerings.
“Lee consistently tackles ambitious and bold storytelling approaches that translate into results for brands,” notes Alkemy X president and CEO Justin Wineburgh. “After such a seamless and highly successful collaboration on Samsung’s ‘Reframe This Space’ series, it was no question that he was the best person to take our branded content division to the next level.”
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