Digital studio Reel FX, with studios in Dallas and Santa Monica, has signed VFX veteran Keith McCabe as general manager of its commercial division. In this role, McCabe’s primary focus will be to oversee all aspects of commercial production from motion design to CG and VFX work.
McCabe comes to Reel FX from Charlex where he supervised CG work on campaigns for top brands including Verizon Wireless, Cover Girl, Clairol, AIG and Hershey’s. In his 16 years of experience in the advertising and feature film industries, he has garnered numerous accolades for his work including a 2006 AICP Award for Excellence in Animation for his contributions on M&M’s “Kaleidoscope.”
McCabe said drawing him to his new roost were its deep talent pool and reputation spanning jobs ranging from stereoscopic 3D, to CG animation, to turn-key live-action/visual effects and cutting edge design.
New York native McCabe graduated valedictorian with a degree in Digital Media from Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida. He immediately dove into the industry working as a technical director at VIFX in Los Angeles, crafting particle-based dynamics and visual effects animation for films including Titanic, Blade and Volcano. He continued to work as a technical director for top companies including Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues Studios and Industrial Light +Magic.
In 2004, McCabe returned to New York as a technical director at Blue Sky Studios (a division of 20th Century Fox) on its animated feature Robots. He moved on to Charlex when offered a position as head of computer graphics. While there, he managed up to 40 CG artists, editors, programmers and designers. Additionally, he served as the primary creative contact collaborating with such agencies as BBDO, McCann Erickson, Grey, Y&R and Mullen.
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