Production designer Todd Fjelsted, whose credits include the HBO series Looking and the Gregg Araki-directed feature White Bird In A Blizzard, has signed with Dattner Dispoto and Associates for representation. Also at Dattner Dispoto, DP Maryse Alberti has been booked for the Ryan Coogler-directed Creed, DP Bojan Bazelli, ASC, for Pete’s Dragon directed by David Lowery, and DP Florian Sadler for the Santiago Rizzo-directed Quest. New bookings for Dattner Dispoto costume designers include Paco Delgado securing director Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl, Meghan Kasperlik tabbed for the Lee Kirk-helmed Geezer, and Kameron Lennox landing director Matt Ross’ Frank and Lola….Carlos Arambula has joined R&R Partners in the new position of VP of Hispanic marketing. Based in the firm’s L.A. office, he will provide leadership and insight to the firm’s nine offices, especially R&R’s new office in Mexico City. Prior to joining R&R, he served as partner/VP marketing & business development, MarcasUSA LLC, a Pan-American OTC pharmaceutical import/distribution company based in El Segundo, Calif., which he also co-founded. Also during this period, he ran his own consulting firm, Arambula-Phillips Communications, serving as managing partner/lead marketing strategist, introducing and establishing foreign brands. Arambula brings deep experience in marketing to Latin American and the domestic Hispanic consumer markets, working on brands such as Toyota, Mars, Unilever, Hormel, ConAgra, and Nestle. Past affiliations include Saatchi, Grey, WPP, and Publicis….Greg Holland has become worldwide VP of sales for Digital Vision, a supplier of color grading, restoration and film scanning solutions for the broadcast, film, commercial and archive industries. Holland is part of a company management team which acquired Digital Vision from Image Systems….
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More