Radar Studios, a Chicago-headquartered production house, has grown its West Coast presence by adding Danny J. Boyle, its second Los Angeles-based director–the other on the roster being the Walter Robot duo. Boyle has already wrapped his first job under the Radar banner, a Playskool campaign out of New York agency Uproar.
Boyle’s most recent company affiliation prior to Radar was Santa Monica-based Socket Films. Best known for his live-action and kids’ commercial fare, Boyle has directed over the years for such clients as McDonald’s, IHOP, Nesquik, Hertz, Hasbro, Mountain Dew, and Budweiser. For the latter, he directed the notable early 1990s spot “Pool Hall,” part of Bud’s “Ladies Night” campaign for DDB Chicago. “Pool Hall” represented Boyle’s first major splash in ad comedy, featuring not only the infamous guys in drag looking to get free beer on ladies’ night, but also the “Yes I Am” spokesman. The spot was produced by HKM Productions, the house through which Boyle broke into the directorial ranks after a career as a staff executive producer and freelance producer.
Following HKM, Boyle directed via such roosts as Atlas Pictures and Cognito Films. While remaining active in commercials, he has branched out into other disciplines, directing a 15-webisode Disney series, Zeke and Luther: Summer Dash For Cash, which combines the director’s expertise in kids and comedy. Boyle also has been busy in comedy sketch show episodes, the latest being SPOOF with Dana Carvey for FOX TV and guest starring Ken Jeong from The Hangover and Joel McHale from Community. Boyle additionally helmed the FOX pilot Man Stroke Woman.
Martin Scorsese On “The Saints,” Faith In Filmmaking and His Next Movie
When Martin Scorsese was a child growing up in New York's Little Italy, he would gaze up at the figures he saw around St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. "Who are these people? What is a saint?" Scorsese recalls. "The minute I walk out the door of the cathedral and I don't see any saints. I saw people trying to behave well within a world that was very primal and oppressed by organized crime. As a child, you wonder about the saints: Are they human?" For decades, Scorsese has pondered a project dedicated to the saints. Now, he's finally realized it in "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints," an eight-part docudrama series debuting Sunday on Fox Nation, the streaming service from Fox News Media. The one-hour episodes, written by Kent Jones and directed by Elizabeth Chomko, each chronicle a saint: Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, John the Baptist, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene, Moses the Black, Sebastian and Maximillian Kolbe. Joan of Arc kicks off the series on Sunday, with three weekly installments to follow; the last four will stream closer to Easter next year. In naturalistic reenactments followed by brief Scorsese-led discussions with experts, "The Saints" emphasizes that, yes, the saints were very human. They were flawed, imperfect people, which, to Scorsese, only heightens their great sacrifices and gestures of compassion. The Polish priest Kolbe, for example, helped spread antisemitism before, during WWII, sheltering Jews and, ultimately, volunteering to die in the place of a man who had been condemned at Auschwitz. Scorsese, who turns 82 on Sunday, recently met for an interview not long after returning from a trip to his grandfather's hometown in Sicily. He was made an honorary citizen and the experience was still lingering in his mind. Remarks have... Read More