RSA Films has brought Pascal Dangin aboard its roster for commercial representation. Dangin is an award-winning filmmaker and a digital artist who has retouched iconic photos and set the look as colorist of major feature films. He’s also a creative director, photographer and book publisher of artists’ monographs, who plies his talents across the luxury, fashion, beauty, lifestyle and fine arts’ industries. His aesthetic and technical acumen have satisfied longstanding clients and collaborators like Anna Wintour and Vogue, Madonna and Annie Liebovitz.
Dangin’s latest commercial work is for the launch of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts’ new global flagship hotel in Hong Kong. It marks his third campaign installment for the ultra-luxury hotels via his design and strategic services firm StudioDangin (SDG). He both directed and photographed the #RosewoodRegulars global multi-media print and digital film campaign which evolves around the high-end brand’s “Sense of Place” philosophy. Dangin’s work depicts the lush visuals of Hong Kong with tactile scenes of cultural archetypes coming into their own after past and present reconcile and bring them to the hotel.
David Mitchell, managing director, RSA Films, said, “We’ve admired Pascal’s work for a long time, everything from covers of magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair he’s retouched and his collaboration with Madonna on her Rebel Heart tour, to his telecine on Frances Ha and commercials for top fashion houses. He understands what it takes to invigorate a brand. Everything on his reel is visually rich and contemporary.”
Dangin related, “There are many production companies out there, many flavors of the moment, but RSA is in a class of its own. I’ve worked with Ridley, Jake and Jordan. From its beginnings with Ridley and Tony, there’s an eloquence to the company culture and a respect for a basic education in filmmaking I see in the work and the process. I’ve never had representation before and I’m excited for new opportunities, and the support I’ll have from a formidable team led by David and my EP Tracie Norfleet.”
Dangin has brought his artful sensibility–often sexy, mischievous, graphic–to ad campaigns for Prada, Victoria’s Secret, Balmain, Lancôme, Zales featuring Vera Wang, 7 For All Mankind and Lancel, as well as additional campaigns for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. In “Radical” for Rosewood’s Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, the camera flits about showcasing the comforts and classical elegance of a hotel suite while a rock band regroups. “Electric Opera” for luxury fashion house Balmain mesmerizes with black and white visuals of exquisitely styled women who wield their power on metropolis and men against an operatic track finding its frequency. And his short film for Lancôme announcing Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz new mascara whimsically animates the fashion designer’s colorful sketches of a fashion show with playful emphasis on mascara-enhanced eyes.
“When I’m directing, I can talk to the stylists, hair and makeup team, set designers, cinematographers and colorists in their own language,” Dangin explained. “Filmmaking isn’t new to me but it’s a cornerstone of the arc I’ve been building over my career. I don’t care about the past, only the future. I’m ready to open up my world to the possibilities and grow as a director.”
Dangin brings a unique 360 approach to storytelling, one not limited to genre, which imparts an intimacy upon viewers as scenes unfold. He began his career in the fashion industry, moving from Paris to New York in 1989. He worked closely with photographers, designers, stylists and makeup artists to create and transform images, and at the dawn of digital publishing in 1995 he opened digital postproduction house Box. Box expanded from a retouching studio into a photography and motion picture art house with a film and TV department, and fine art and fashion photography printing lab.
He teamed with publisher Gerhard Steidl to form book imprint SteidlDangin. And he founded StudioDangin (SDG) in 2011. The firm’s latest campaign launches this Fall, as the Eiffel Tower turns 130 years old. Le Jules Verne restaurant on the Tower’s second floor will unveil a new brand identity, which includes a permanent exhibition at the Eiffel Tower entrance celebrating the craftsmanship of the artisans and their tools and the release of an art book monograph of the campaign experience.
Dangin will be represented at RSA Films by Stephanie Stephens Reps on the West Coast, House of Representatives in the Midwest and Moustache on the East Coast.
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