Filmmaker José Padilha–known for his work on films and series such as Elite Squad, Narcos, RoboCop, and Bus 174–has joined Taking Over NY, a POC-owned production company, for global representation spanning commercials and branded content.
The director, whose film career is managed by WME and 360, has amassed some 125-plus accolades including the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Peabody Award, which recognizes media organizations and individuals of outstanding public service. The Peabody was for Bus 174, which also garnered Padilha a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary. In the advertising market, prior to joining Taking Over NY, Padilha was repped by Anonymous Content.
Kicking off Padilha’s new chapter with Taking Over NY is his first short film, American Cancer Story for Change the Ref, a powerful call to action against childhood mortality. The short–which had Taking Over NY working in tandem with agency Klick Health–recently earned SHOOT Top Spot of the Week distinction. The piece is in line with the Taking Over NY commitment to producing social impact fare made by A-list artists.
American Cancer Story also marks the first project that Taking Over NY founder/EP Douglas Costa has collaborated on with Padilha. Costa, a Latin-Asian producer, launched Taking Over NY in 2019. His production house pedigree includes serving at Partizan in France and Brazil.
“I arrived in the American market leaving the comfort of being head of Partizan, one of the top production companies in the world, to found a new house focused on social impact with projects that contribute to society, counting on partnerships with companies and professionals who want to be part of the changes,” said Costa who’s worked with such notables as Spike Lee, Michel Gondry, Constantine Venetopoulos, Quentin Dupieux, Martin Fougerol, Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, Jim Hosking, Gilles Lelouche and Alex Courtes to name a few.
Padilha shared, “Being alongside such talented people expands the possibilities in producing content relevant to society and allows me to work with professionals I admire like Douglas Costa and the Taking Over team.”
Costa said, “I’ve been collaborating with international A-list directors for over 20 years and José Padilha is the first Brazilian A-List director I’ve worked with, and there’s nothing better than starting this relationship with an exceptional script, even though our budget for American Cancer Story was super lean. It challenged us in many ways, but also allowed us to bring friends like James Valentine and Pierre Buffin from BUF Company to collaborate. The success of this first project together is a source of great pride. In addition to having the honor of welcoming one of the great contemporary directors into our home, the process of discovering his genius as a script writer, detail-oriented and passionate about the seventh art with social impact brought us hope and the certainty that with our partnership we are on the right path.”
At Taking Over NY, Costa debuted with Impact for Budweiser, a short film directed by Spike Lee that was part of a campaign which raised money for the Jackie Robinson Museum in NYC. Other social impact projects from the production company and Costa include “Free Range Humans for Corona,” “Nurture by Nature” for Apple, “Sin Frio” for Nike, and Draw With Me, a short about gender equality starring Jennifer Lopez’s nibbling, Brendo Scholl, and invited by the UN to be projected during an historic transgender health panel.
Costa was part of the team that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and he has developed campaigns for brands such as Budweiser, Corona, Apple, Uber, Nike and Land Rover, Peugeot, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Coca-Cola and Honda, as well as music videos for White Stripes, U2, Daft Punk, Chico César, Chico Buarque, Mariana Aydar, Maria Bethania, Phoenix, Air, and Seu Jorge, among others.
