Creative collective Wild Gift, founded last year by production veterans David Mitchell and Tomer DeVito, has signed award-winning director/DP Antony Hoffman whose body of work includes campaigns for Vodafone, Lamborghini, Audi, adidas and Peroni. His exploits range from run-and-gun projects with a small crew during lockdown all the way to epic large-scale productions–the common bond being that the work, for big and small screen, evokes a sense of humanity and emotional truth
Wild Gift’s managing director Mitchell said of Hoffman, “He brings a remarkable combination of talent and experience, having filmed extensively around the world with leading brands and agencies. He’s versatile in comedy and drama, and can shoot automotive and action-oriented campaigns like nobody’s business. He knows every angle and camera move, and has the innate ability to place the camera in the perfect spot.”
Hoffman shared, “For the past six years I’ve been freelance and in the wild, working directly with agencies and brands. I’ve been entrepreneurial, focused and on the daily hunt, but when I talked with David and his team, including his sales reps at Pop Arts, Commonwealth and House of Representatives, their passion awoke something in me. It simply felt right to have such a great experienced team behind me and to hand over the keys.”
Hoffman got his start as a journalist for AP and BBC, documenting anti-apartheid uprisings around his native Cape Town, while also getting experience in production on commercial sets. His childhood dream of being a director came true when he moved to the U.S. and studied at AFI, then embarked on a full-time career as a commercial director. He thrived traveling to exotic and remote locations and working under pressure, often as both director and cinematographer.
Among his credits are high-profile Super Bowl commercials, including the iconic Budweiser “Clydesdales,” now part of the MoMA’s permanent collection, and Fiat’s comedic hit “Blue Pill,” number 3 on USA Today’s AdMeter in 2015. He’s collaborated with many celebrities, directing Benedict Cumberbatch, Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz, Idris Elba and David Beckham, along with some of Asia’s biggest stars such as Tony Leung, Eddie Peng, Fan Bing Bing, Karen Mok and Lin Chi Ling, to note only a few–and Formula 1 champions Fernando Alonzo and Michael Schumacher. Hoffman has also photographed Patrick Dempsey in a print campaign for Tag Heuer.
“I really like working with celebrities and athletes,” Hoffman said. “They are obviously at the top of their game, and you have to match that. I’d love to work on campaigns for the World Cup later this year. I have some ideas using immersive cameras that will really capture the essence of the game.”
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More