Composer Steve Dancz has joined Oasis Recording, Atlanta. Dancz has worked as a record producer and A&R director while based in Los Angeles, and has composed and conducted orchestral scores for the television series Designing Women, and the feature Grim Prairie Tales….Wax Music & Sound Design/Radio Free Anxiety, New York, had added composer Erik Nickerson to its roster. His background includes composing original music for various Web sites, short films and television shows, including The Next Big Thing and The Deal…Animation director Bryan Huo has joined Toronto-based Guru Animation Studio. He had been working for Topix, Toronto, on spots for Pillsbury via D’Arcy, New York and Toronto….Digital Kitchen, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles, has added designer André Stringer. He had been serving as senior broadcast designer with Black Entertainment Television (BET), Washington, D.C., where he specialized in the network’s branding and promotional efforts. Stringer will be based in Digital Kitchen’s Chicago facility….New York-based Sound Lounge has promoted Rob DiFondi from staff assistant to mixer. His credits include work on Visa’s "Dress Shop," directed by Jonathan David of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander via BBDO New York….Michael J. Morelli has been named VP/Hollywood region business manager for the Kodak Entertainment Imaging division. He had been serving as general manager for the Kodak division in Australia and New Zealand since 1999. Morelli will oversee operations in Hollywood and 11 western states. Additionally, D. Brian Spruill has been appointed VP/director of strategic planning and business development for Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging division. He will be responsible for developing, implementing and coordinating a worldwide global strategy for the next generation of the company’s film, digital and hybrid motion imaging technologies, products and services. Spruill had been VP/general manager of the Hollywood region of the Entertainment Imaging division since ’94….
Karla Sofía Gascón Could Make Trans History For Role In “Emilia Pérez”
Karla Sofía Gascón's performance in "Emilia Pérez" as a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender affirmation surgery to become a woman has brought her global acclaim and set Gascón on a path that may make her the first openly transgender actor ever nominated for an Oscar. But on this morning, she's feeling contemplative. "I woke up with such a philosophical streak," Gascón says, smiling. "In life, everything can be good or bad. We are a mix of so many things. There are things that make you happy and instead they make you sad, or the other way around." The dichotomies of life are a fitting subject for Jacques Audiard's "Emilia Pérez," a film that puts just about every genre — musical, crime thriller, melodrama — into a grandiose mixer, and, by sheer nerve, manages to coalesce into one of the year's most memorable movie experiences. "Emilia Pérez," which began streaming Wednesday on Netflix, is widely expected to be a best picture nominee. At the center of the "Emilia Pérez" phenomenon – which began with a barn-storming premiere at the Cannes Film Festival — is Gascón who plays both the menacing cartel kingpin Manitas and the woman who emerges after Manitas fakes his own death, Emilia Pérez. Years later, Emilia contacts the lawyer who facilitated her transition (Zoe Saldaña) to her reunite with her wife (Selena Gomez) and their children. The wild swings of "Emilia Pérez" – a movie that has earned comparisons to both "Sicario" and "Mrs. Doubtfire" – wouldn't be possible without Gascón. In Cannes, she and her co-stars shared in the best actress prize, which Gascón accepted. "We've been insulted, denigrated, subjected to a lot of violence without even knowing why," Gascón said that evening. "I think this is award is so much more... Read More