Method Studios, Deluxe’s global visual effects company, has named Marc Weigert as its president. Most recently Weigert served as co-producer, visual effects supervisor and second-unit director on Sony Pictures’ 2013 release, White House Down, one of several Roland Emmerich-directed films on which he has worked.
Prior to joining Method, Weigert was CEO of film production company Uncharted Territory, which he co-founded with effects expert Volker Engel in 1999. Here, Weigert was overall VFX supervisor and co-producer on 2012 and supervised VFX shots on Paramount’s Oscar-winning release, the Martin Scorsese-directed Hugo. He also won an Emmy Award for the miniseries The Triangle and acted as project manager on Independence Day. He continues to be a stakeholder in Uncharted Territory.
“I’ve been fortunate to work on some of the most challenging and rewarding visual effects projects around,” Weigert said. “I try to instill a sense of innovation into everything I do from both an artistic and technological standpoint. This ethos fits perfectly with Method’s goals and I’m excited to work with such talented artists, producers and support crew, and help build on all they have achieved.”
Stefan Sonnenfeld, president of Deluxe Creative Services, said. “His vast experience in managing and supervising large scale VFX productions, as well as building up his own company, will help Method continue to grow in reputation and scale.”
Method continues to work on top-flight film projects including Jupiter Ascending, The Maze Runner and The Giver. The company’s past projects include recent releases “Divergent” for Summit Entertainment and Marvel Studios’ Thor: The Dark World.
Method maintains facilities in Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, London, Sydney and Melbourne.
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