Directing and creative collective TASTE has brought director Victoria Granof aboard its roster for spots and branded content worldwide. This marks her first affiliation with a production company in the ad market. Based in New York, L.A. and Vienna, TASTE has a lineup of directors that includes Thomas Schauer, Stuart Parr, and Margaret Elman.
Granof is a pioneer and maverick in the world of food imagery, with two decades of creative collaboration with top brands and image-makers. Her work is informed by her background in visual art and classical culinary training from Le Cordon Bleu.
While most directors specializing in food and tabletop start their careers in photography, Granof began as a food stylist, attracted by the opportunity to combine art, design, and food all in one place. She soon launched her career with a decade-long collaboration with the legendary fashion photographer Irving Penn, collaborating with him on iconic work for Vogue. Since this auspicious start, she has brought her unique sensibility to her work with many of the world’s top photographers and directors, creating dramatic and provocative images for both editorial and corporate clients.
Granof’s work has graced the pages of The New York Times T Magazine, New York Magazine, Cherry Bombe, Vogue, Food52, Martha Stewart, the New Yorker, and Bon Appetit. An author herself, she has also collaborated on cookbooks with numerous high profile chefs.
Granof then joined the directorial ranks, he first film being Drop the Beet. “I’ve had the privilege of wearing many hats in our industry,” said Granof. “Directing is the natural next step for me, bringing all of my passion and experience together in one place. I’m thrilled to be able to call TASTE my home.”
“Victoria is known for her ‘beauty is where you find it’ approach,” to food imagery, in addition to being one of the most creatively respected women in the world of culinary arts, said Becky Donahue, TASTE executive producer.
TASTE partner Tim Case added, “All of us who do this for a living search high and low for unique talents. Becky found Victoria, and Thomas and I knew we wanted to partner with her immediately.”
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