By ROBERT GOLDRICH
Directors Jeffrey Fleisig and Timothy White have joined bicoastal production house Villains, headed by exec. producer Robin Benson. White is being handled for spots and music videos, while Fleisigs representation is in the commercial arena.
Both directors have already wrapped or are wrapping projects for their new roost. At press time, Fleisig was in post on a national McDonalds spot for its Big Mac via Burrell Communications Group, Chicago. Targeting the urban, African-American market, the ad-entitled Curfew-is slated to begin airing in mid-January.
Meanwhile, White has completed a National Council for Literacy PSA on behalf of the Council of American Publishers via Ogilvy & Mather, New York and Toronto. The PSA stars Whoopi Goldberg, whom White helped procure for the job. As a noted still photographer, White has established relationships with numerous celebs, including Susan Sarandon, whom he helped bring into the fold for a New Jersey Council of the Arts PSA out of Parsippany, N.J.-based agency Wordsmith Communications.
White will helm follow-up spots in the New Jersey Council for the Arts campaign well into 1999. Among the notables hes scheduled to direct are actress Meryl Streep and New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman. The campaign-which White helped to develop over the past year-centers on celebs who either came from or now live in New Jersey. While the identities of those famous folk may surprise some, they also help to underscore the revelation that New Jersey has become an arts center despite being in the shadow of New York. White noted, for example, that New Jersey maintains 25 dance companies, various venues for the arts and assorted other resources.
White continues to maintain his Timothy White Photography, New York. An internationally acclaimed still shooter perhaps best known for celebrity and fashion photography over the past 19 years, White was recently selected as one of the 100 most important people in photography by American Photo magazine. Back in 1995, he began to make the transition to moving images, directing music videos and commercials through Automatic, a New York-based division of Sony Pictures. During his tenure at Automatic, primarily a clips house, White directed videos for such artists as Motorbaby, Olive, Shania Twain and Clint Black. For Twain, White shot an album cover as well as a clip, a dual assignment scenario he hopes to occasionally parallel in advertising, shooting print and directing spots for Villains clients.
Also at Automatic, Whites spot credits included an Earthshare PSA, Choice, which earned finalist status at last years London International Advertising Awards and will reportedly be honored at the International Film & TV Festival of New York later this month.
White left Automatic about a year ago and began working independently and exploring prospective spot production homes. He ultimately gravitated toward Villains based on the quality of its people and caliber of work. His exec. producer at Villains is Charlie Alvare, who also handles two other directors at the company, Mr. Viril (a.k.a. Steve Shainberg) and Fleisig.
Fleisig
Fleisig first made his mark in short-form as a freelance editor/writer for the promo department at NBC, where he also got the opportunity to direct. Some of that promo fare caught the eye of bicoastal Moxie Pictures, which represented him from early 1996 through late 97. During his stay at Moxie, he directed campaigns for Toyota out of Saatchi & Saatchi, Torrance, Calif., Southwestern Bell for Minneapolis agency Simmons, Durham, and a client-direct Virgin Records package promoting the Rolling Stones Stripped album. One of the Southwestern Bell ads, Mafia, earned an ADDY Award for best comedy in 96.
Since leaving Moxie, Fleisig has helmed notable NBC promos as well as spec work. His Must-See TV mockumentary campaign for NBC included promos Pottery Class and English As A Second Language, fortifying his directorial reputation in performance and dialogue-driven humor. Fleisigs spec work was designed to build upon and broaden that comedy base. He is currently in the midst of a spec ad centered on more visual, quirky humor. His initial spec ad, Lottery for LensCrafter, is currently on his reel. The spot features an employee who tells off his boss and shocks his fellow workers, only to realize in the company parking lot that he misread the last supposed winning number on his lottery ticket.
Last year, Mr. Viril-Fleisigs classmate in the graduate program at AFI in the early 90s-introduced Fleisig to then freelancer Alvare, who subsequently helped develop and produce Fleisigs spec work before joining Villains himself last spring. Since then, particularly once his Must-See TV promos started airing, Fleisig was courted by a number of commercial production houses, but he chose Villains based largely on his working rapport with Alvare.
Villains directorial roster includes Fleisig, White, Mr. Viril, Jim Giddens, Brett Ratner, the Coen brothers, the Pate brothers, Scott Bibo, Bill Mather, Leonardo Ricagni, Ken Fox, Daniela Federici, Abel Ferrara, Eric Yealland and Steve Carr. Fox and Carr are best known for their work in music videos, but both have diversified into spots. Villains is repped by Carl Forsberg and Douglas Howell on the East Coast, Marsha Icko in the Midwest and Brent Novick on the West Coast.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More