Digital studio Reel FX has bolstered its live-action directorial roster with the additions of Ben Orisich and Justin Malone. Reel FX will handle Malone nationwide while representing Orisich exclusively in Texas and the Southwest. (Orisich continues to be repped by Bodega in the Northeast, and The Directors Network in the rest of the U.S.)
A director/creative director/VFX artist, Orisich has helmed campaigns for ESPN, NBC, NASCAR, IZOD, Indy500 and ABC, among many others. The Atlanta-native cut his filmmaking teeth at top New York VFX houses, working as a sought-after Flame artist and motion graphics designer before opening his own VFX shop, Home NYC. He then transitioned to directing live-action and VFX-heavy campaigns as a client-direct freelancer out of Original Films and Bodega. In 2007, Orisich’s work gained him inclusion into SHOOT’s New Director Showcase.
Malone has directed spots for Southwest Airlines, Boost Mobile and Tecate, among others, and has several narrative and documentary films under his belt including Undocumented, Hurry Up and Wait and Blue.
Reel FX, with bases of operation in Dallas and Santa Monica, maintains a directorial roster that also includes Dale Carman and Kevin Althans. Together they will handle turnkey, soup-to-nuts projects for which Reel FX will also be the editing, audio, VFX and finishing company.
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