Content creation studio BODEGA, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, has signed the Icelandic directorial duo Samuel & Gunnar for representation spanning commercials, branded content and music videos. The directing team has earlier been repped by Superprime.
Samuel & Gunnar gained acclaim from the start of their partnership, winning all the major Icelandic awards for both music videos and commercials. No other directors in Iceland have been nominated, or won as many awards in such a short amount of time.
Samuel & Gunnar jumped at the chance to reunite with executive producer Mark Kovacs at BODEGA. The duo and EP earlier worked together at production company Humble.
The directors’ reel includes work for such brands as McDonald’s, Spectrum, Angel Soft, TJ Maxx and Disney.
Kovacs said of Samuel & Gunnar, “Their global directing experience is perfectly aligned with today’s production needs.
Samuel & Gunnar’s work has received assorted awards and nominations from competitions such as British Arrows Awards, Cannes Lions, The Icelandic Advertising Awards, Epica Awards, Telly Awards, Effie Awards, and Cresta Awards, among others.
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