Matthew Bogusz has joined Havas Media Group (HMG) North America as its managing partner, head of growth. His appointment reflects the agency’s continued commitment to accelerate its overall growth strategy in North America, driven by HMG North America CEO Greg Walsh. Based in Chicago, Bogusz will report directly to Walsh and serve on the agency’s North American executive leadership team.
Bogusz is a seasoned omnichannel leader with experience at Omnicom, Publicis, and independent agency NOVUS. He has held senior strategy and activation roles which span retail, auto, CGP, luxury, financial, health, and travel verticals. His work for brands including Oscar Mayer, Lunchables, Planters Nuts, Porsche, Bentley, Barilla, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Kohl’s, Thrivent Financial, Mayo Clinic, Walgreens, and Lidl has claimed honors including Effie awards and a Festival of Media Award. Most recently, Bogusz worked with print agency NOVUS to build and scale a digital practice and programmatic trading operation. Additionally, he recently retired from local government as Mayor of Des Plaines, Illinois, having been elected to public office for 12 years.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More