Producer Mark Ciardi (Million Dollar Arm, Secretariat, Invincible, Miracle, The Rookie), Tom Duterme (former executive at YouTube, Google) and William Chang and Ash Vasudevan (of Edge Venture Capital and co-creators of The Million Dollar Arm contest and reality show) have joined forces to form Aspire Entertainment.
The new venture’s mission is to create aspirational stories about characters who overcome adversity. The company will provide scripted and unscripted premium original content to assorted distribution platforms, while maintaining a strong presence in feature film production.
Ciardi recently produced Disney Pictures’ Million Dollar Arm and his company, Mayhem Pictures, specializes in inspirational sports stories. Chang, and Vasudevan, were portrayed in the movie as the real-life creators of the Million Dollar Arm, India’s talent-hunt contest for Major League Baseball pitching prospects. On the set of the “Million Dollar Arm movie, Chang and Vasudevan forged a close relationship with Ciardi that eventually led to discussions about launching a new kind of content company.
Ciardi brings his knowledge of Hollywood to Aspire, Chang and Vasudevan their vision of technology intersecting with media and entertainment and venture capital. Duterme, an ex-YouTube/Google exec responsible for strategy and corporate development for YouTube, among other ventures, has broad knowledge and global perspective of new and expanding distribution platforms.
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