Bicoastal content creation studio CVLT Production has expanded its executive suite with the additions of Charles Paek as creative director/VFX supervisor, and Frank Sun as executive producer/creative producer. Both will serve to oversee production and postproduction for client projects based out of New York and Los Angeles.
Paek has been behind award-winning creative projects for clients such as Lexus, Target, Acura, Infiniti, Marvel, Paramount and Tanqueray, while at CBS Broadcasting, HER3SY, Digital Domain and Artifact Studios, among others. Sun brings extensive experience shooting commercials, music videos, feature films and photography for Red Antler and his own production company XY Content, collaborating with clients including Google, Cartier, Norwegian Airlines and Nike.
A longtime filmmaker and VFX supervisor, Paek has distinguished himself in the industry from his early days as a lead designer at CBS Broadcasting to his past work at Digital Domain. Over the years, he cultivated his signature creative style of high-end, photoreal design in all of his projects. In the past decade he has worked as a director, art director and VFX supervisor, earning a VES nomination and a Clio win for his creative projects.
Sun’s career began as a cameraman on the sunny islands of Survivor. He later moved to New York City to pursue a life in filmmaking. His passion for crafting vivid imagery led him to cinematography, where he helmed brand spots, films and music videos. He founded XY Content in 2013 alongside his creative partner, Habib Yazdi, and led a successful collective of roster clients and talent for five years, working with such clients and agencies as Publicis, WPP, McKinney, Red Antler and Google.
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