Backyard Productions has added director Mark Pellington to its roster for commercial representation. With a career spanning over four decades, Pellington joins Backyard to further expand his commercial and content work.
With a visual style rooted in experimentation and immersive filmmaking, the Baltimore native started his career in MTV’s award-winning On-Air Promotions Department, where he created short conceptual spots, editing original footage with found sound and images. While at MTV, he branched out as a freelance music video director shooting clips for Information Society, Malcolm McLaren, and De La Soul. He also ventured into the art world, collaborating on text image pieces with New York gallery artist Jenny Holzer and William Burroughs.
In the commercial world, the director–who had been repped in the advertising arena by Washington Square Films prior to joining Backyard–has spearheaded creative campaigns for global brands including Gatorade, Eli Lilly, and United Healthcare. More recently, Pellington completed a branded content film for Aston Martin, featuring pro football great Tom Brady. Having collaborated with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, U2, Demi Lovato, Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, and Richard Gere, the multi-disciplined director has just unveiled a music video for singer-songwriter C M Talkington, featuring Renée Zellweger who makes her music video debut.
Working across short form and long form content as well as features, Pellington is intently focused on writing, producing, directing, and creating meaningful work for all platforms. He recently completed an ambitious new feature film–Survive–scheduled for release in June. The film, an intense story of a young girl overcoming traumatic obstacles, was shot in Latvia and stars Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins, who was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance in the Survive series on Quibi, from which sprung the feature. Pellington’s highly regarded dance film, The Severing, is also slated for TVOD release on June 6.
Pellington is currently authoring a visual memoir called “The Visualist: 1984-2024 MTV to Madison Avenue, Hollywood to the new digital age.” His initial foray into publishing, the memoir is a visual narrative encompassing 40 years of experiences, process, anecdotes and is set to be released in 2024.
Pellington said, “What appealed to me most was Backyard‘s enthusiasm and faith in my work, the range of styles I could work in, my ambition to create great work, regardless of budget, and to support my intention to make emotional work at every juncture. I’m very hungry to reclaim an identity and to pay off Backyard’s faith in me by just doing some really great work!”
Kris Mathur, EP of Backyard, added, “I have been an admirer of Mark’s work since the beginning–we both began our journey in the music video world around the same time, and have had parallel careers in advertising and television. He is one of the few directors I know than can seamlessly move between genres (advertising, television and feature films) and excel at them all. We feel very fortunate to have Mark in the Backyard fold and look forward to bringing his depth of experience and creative eye to bear on behalf of our clients.”
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