Pathology, a thriller which premiered last week (4/18) at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood, marks the feature filmmaking debut of director Marc Schölermann who helms spots via Hollywood-based Über Content. The director’s credits include commercials for such clients as BMW, Lexus, Nissan and Fiat.
Released through Lion’s Gate, Pathology is a dark medical thriller that centers on a group of pathologists who devise a game wherein one player kills someone and the others have to figure out how that victim died.
Milo Ventimiglia (of the NBC hit series Heroes) stars as a medical student who is taken under the wings of these doctors and quickly finds himself being drawn into their dangerous and sinister game.
“It seems like a clever move casting the star of Heroes,” mused Schölermann, “but the fact is that when I cast Milo I didn’t know who he was.” The network phenomenon was not on air in the director’s native Germany. “Milo was so interesting to us, we were convinced he would bring an incredible amount to the role.”
The William Morris Agency first brought the script to Schölermann’s attention via Lakeshore Entertainment. The writing team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor penned the screenplay.
Schölermann brought in cinematographer Ekkehart Pollack to lens the film. The pair had previously collaborated on more than 50 commercials in Europe.
In preparation for the film, the director also took a trip to the morgue: “Realism in film is so important to me,” noted Schölermann, who had the chief coroner of Los Angeles County on board as a medical adviser to the production. “Did you know that the L.A. morgue sells souvenir coffee cups, beach towels, and hats? It’s mind-blowing,” observed the director.
Schölermann is on a directorial roster at Über Content that consists of Jordan Brady, Todd Field, Jeffrey Fleisig, Gentlemen, Stewart Hendler, Jason Kohn and Dave Laden.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More