Marci Miles of Reelize Reps, Chicago, has been named to handle the Midwest for Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues.….Bicoastal Cohn + Company and New York-based Nadel@ Cohn + Company have signed Mark Andrews of Where’s The Boards?, Los Angeles, for West Coast sales….Los Angeles- based visual effects house KromA has secured independent rep Grace Silverstein of Reel Grace, Santa Monica, to handle the West Coast and Texas….Andrea Marcucci of Agent 99, New York, is now handling East Coast representation for editorial, visual effects and design shop Version2. Editing, New York….Sovereign, the Santa Monica-based music and sound design shop recently launched by composer PJ Hanke, has hired Arrianne Braverman for representation on the West Coast. Executive producer Katie Jones continues to rep Sovereign in all other territories….Sales rep Victoria Venantini has joined Holbrook Management, the New York-based independent repping firm that handles the East Coast for bicoastal Moxie Pictures, Finger Music, West Los Angeles, Blind, Santa Monica, and the New York shops Consulate, cYclops and foreignfilms@cYclops….Global Production Network (GPN), Los Angeles, has inked an exclusive deal to handle U.S. representation for Aussie filmmaker Jane Smith’s Sydney-based production services company Filmsmiths Australia…. After wrapping additional photography on the Warner Bros. feature Constantine, DP Jeff Cutter is once again available for commercial and music video work via United Talent Agency (UTA), Beverly Hills, Calif….
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