Kathryn Bigelow–the Best Director Oscar winner for The Hurt Locker, which also won Best Picture in 2010–has joined the roster of production house Smuggler for commercials and branded content worldwide.
The Hurt Locker earned a total of nine Academy Award nominations. Three years later, Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, which chronicled the hunt for Osama bin Laden, was also nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Bigelow’s previous features include The Loveless (1982), Blue Steel (1989), Point Break (1991), Strange Days (1995) and K-19: The Widowmaker (2002). Her work in advertising includes campaigns for Schweppes, Chanel, Ford, and Revlon. She was previously handled in the ad arena by production house RESET.
Earlier this year, Bigelow teamed with VR creator Imraan Ismail to create The Protectors: Walk in the Ranger’s Shoes. This short VR documentary follows a group of Garamba National Park rangers through the Democratic Republic of Congo, exploring the African elephants’ race toward extinction at the hands of ivory-seeking poachers. The project premiered on Earth Day, April 22, at the Tribeca Film Festival. The following month National Geographic released the film on the VR app Within, and on YouTube and Facebook360. The Protectors: Walk in the Ranger’s Shoes was a co-production of the VR company Here Be Dragons and the film production company Annapurna Pictures.
Bigelow’s latest feature film, Detroit, follows the true story of a police raid at the Algiers Motel on July 25, 1967, during Detroit’s infamous, racially charged 12th Street Riot. The film is set to be released in theaters on August 4.
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