Production company Slim has secured sports and action director Manes Duerr for commercials and branded content in the U.S. This marks Duerr’s first production company roost in the U.S. He has already wrapped his first project under the Slim banner, a four-spot Fitbit campaign out of Townhouse New York.
Duerr is a lover of American sports and is a committed Packers fan. He also played basketball as a small forward for many years. Originally from Vienna, Duerr started his career as an editor before moving into directing commercials. The transition was easy for the graduate of the Filmacademy Vienna, who demonstrated a raw talent for captivating visual storytelling with athletes. His commercial credits in Europe include Under Armour, Nike and Votec.
“Manes’ work has a remarkable aesthetic. His reverence for competitive sports is evident–there is a undercurrent of tension in his work that keeps the viewer enthralled. I expect his reel will evolve to include more narrative and dialogue work soon,” stated Tom Weissferdt, EP/owner of Slim.
Manes is also enthusiastic about exploring opportunities with Slim, noting that he enjoyed a positive experience with the company on the Fitbit campaign.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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