Alkemy X has expanded its national sales representation, bringing on Los Angeles-based Veronica Lombardo of Veronica Lombardo Management to handle the West Coast and Sharon & Perry (Sharon Swanson and Perry Tongate) for representation in the Midwest, Texas and Southeast. Alkemy X–with talent and resources spanning production, postproduction, animation and visual effects–has bases of operation in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Amsterdam….
Richmond, Va.-based animation and design studio Hue&Cry has secured Anna Rotholz Management for representation on the East Coast and Maureen Butler of MoButler Represents to handle the Midwest. Rotholz adds Hue&Cry to a current roster which includes tinygiant, PF100, Rocket Film, Hey Baby and Consulate NYC. Hue&Cry meanwhile joins a MoButler Represents’ client roster which includes Taylor James, Theresa Wingert at Fiona, AtSwim, Shindig Music, Sandro Miller, and BottleRocket360 for live action….
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More