Visual effects and animation studio DNEG has appointed Paul Riddle as executive VFX supervisor of its award-winning TV offering in London, coinciding with the release of a plethora of new productions.
Riddle was part of the original team that set up DNEG (or Double Negative as it was then known) in 1998. He has more than 20 years of experience, working on many of DNEG’s biggest productions. His film credits as VFX supervisor include Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Tree of Life, John Carter, Fast and Furious 6 and The Da Vinci Code, for which he received a VES Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects.
More recently, he was overall VFX supervisor on director Francis Lawrence’s Red Sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence, and supervised the visual effects for the Harry Potter theme park rides “Gringotts Wizarding Bank” and “Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure” for Universal Orlando.
In his new role, Riddle will work closely with the new business team and with TV clients on the creative development of their projects, as well as overseeing the creative management of all London-led TV shows.
DNEG TV, which took home an Emmy last year for its work on the HBO drama Chernobyl, was formed in 2013 to enable TV producers and networks worldwide to access DNEG’s talent, technical innovation and infrastructure through a bespoke TV service.
The team has been working on many major new series releasing in the first half of 2020, including: Star Trek: Picard (CBS), Locke & Key (Netflix), Doctor Who Season 12 (BBC), Sacred Lies: The Singing Bones (Facebook Watch), Altered Carbon Season 2 (Netflix), Devs (Hulu), Westworld Season 3 (HBO), The Letter for the King (Netflix) and Defending Jacob (Apple TV+).
Managing director of DNEG TV, Matt Plummer, said: “Paul has been an integral member of DNEG since its earliest days, and we’re delighted to have him join the TV team. With the increased number of broadcast and streaming services producing high-quality television shows, the demand for first-rate VFX services has never been higher, and Paul’s experience and creative oversight will be invaluable.”
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.
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