Framestore has promoted James Razzall to president, North America advertising. He was previously managing director of the company’s L.A. office, where he will continue to be based in his new role.
Razzall joined the business in 2000 in London, rising through the ranks as a producer before embarking upon the company’s first U.S. expansion to New York in 2004. He proved an integral part of the small team’s success, building a successful base for Framestore’s U.S. operations, before venturing west to replicate the process once more in Los Angeles. In Razzall’s time running the California venture, the team has seen huge growth in both headcount and remit, making Framestore a key player for all manner of visual effects and creative technology projects.
Razzall said, “I am very proud of what we have achieved in the US over the last 15 years. Our amazing team bridges the gap between advertising, technology and entertainment perfectly and our three creative hubs, in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, are constantly being challenged to come up with innovative ways to tell stories and present beautiful imagery. The work speaks for itself and is testament to the people we have at Framestore, and I am truly honored to be leading this next phase and finding out what the future holds.”
Razzall’s new role coincides with the promotion of Krystina Wilson, previously executive producer, to the role of managing director in Chicago, and the appointment of Charles Howell, a veteran of global Framestore production across film, advertising and television, to managing director, New York.
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