Nutmeg, a creative marketing and content-development resource, has promoted Drew Hankins to editor, continuing the company’s policy of nurturing talent, providing opportunity and promoting from within.
Hankins began his career as a production assistant and has served as assistant editor at Nutmeg since 2011. In that role, he supported producers, cut spots and prepared files for various platforms—TV, web, social media and apps—for clients such as Animal Planet, A&E, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Discovery, Disney, ESPN, HBO, Nickelodeon, Syfy and Verizon. Recent projects have increasingly showcased his editorial talents, including several music-video-style remixes for infectious songs from “SpongeBob SquarePants” as well as the mini-documentary spoof of VH1’s “Behind the Music,” “How Luna Became the Loudest Loud,” all of which were instant viral hits.
The road to editing started when Hankins was a kid. Fascinated by Discovery’s behind-the-scenes special effects series “Movie Magic,” he soon came to realize exactly who, in a movie’s long list of credits, was responsible for making the magic happen.
“An editor is one of the last people to touch a film and, ultimately, the person who brings the film to life,” he said. “I’ve been exposed to many amazing movies over the years but the one that made the biggest impression was ‘Goodfellas.’ It’s so well crafted; it’s perfect. It made me say, ‘That’s what I want to do!’” So much so that he paraphrases a legendary line to make his point. “To me, being an editor was better than being President.”
Besides mobsters, another big-screen bad guy made an impression—or, more accurately, his less-is-more screen time made an impression.
“On ‘Jaws,’ editor Verna Fields was tasked with creating a suspenseful movie with very little usable footage of the malfunctioning mechanical antagonist. She managed to turn that into a plus, creating chills with only glimpses of a fin or ripples in the water. She went on to win the Oscar for Film Editing. As Spielberg famously observed, ‘Had the shark been working, perhaps the film would have made half the money and been half as scary.’”
What gives Hankins a feeling of accomplishment? “Seeing something I cut, out in the wild. Just knowing that others are seeing it makes me feel good. My very first project for broadcast was a five-second bumper and I remember making sure I was home to watch when it aired. A friend even recorded it on his DVR."
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