Production company m ss ng p eces has added Vietnamese-American director Thuan Tran to its roster for U.S. commercial representation.
Tran’s work reflects an innate skill for translating youth culture in a way that is relevant to broader audiences. Formerly repped by Partizan, he has worked with international clients including Adidas, Asics, Beats by Dre, NBA, Nordstrom, Chime, Nike, and Revlon, along with local charities and mutual aid groups fighting against food and housing insecurity. He began his directing career with music videos – which led to directing branded content for publications like Hypebeast, Vogue, Rolling Stone, and Billboard. He also launched the creative content collective onlunchbreak (OLB), which elevates and showcases unseen talent in hard-to-reach, marginalized communities.
“I’m so inspired by Thuan and his ability to create such fun, authentic stories, as well as his creative collective that has supported a new community of creators for several years, ” said Brian Latt, managing partner, m ss ng p eces. “I’m excited to work together and can’t wait to see what’s next.”
Tran said, “My work is rooted in honesty and the kind of familiarity that often isn’t represented on screen. m ss ng p eces aligns with my values and with the ethos of OLB. I look forward to learning more and sharing everything with my community along the way.”
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More