Afterhrs., the recently launched L.A.-based content studio under the aegis of producer Thelonious Brooks and director Kai Regan, has secured DeVine Reps to handle representation on both coasts for advertising and branded content projects. Regan was a founding partner of Alldayeveryday and has directed projects for many brands and agencies; Brooks was sr. producer for Gloria Content and EP of his service company, Behemoth Production. He has also been a line producer for such directors as Jeremy Saulnier, Diego Luna and Rodrigo Valdes. Over the years, Brooks and Regan found a calling in the curation of artist development; inclusive and diverse storytelling talent. Among the many artists with whom Afterhrs. is collaborating with on a nonexclusive basis (affording the studio with the flexibility to match the right storyteller to select narrative projects) are Sunbeam (aka Dean Fleischer-Camp and Nick Paley, whose upcoming live action and animated film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is being released via A24), writer/director Maegan Houang (Three Busy Debras), writer/director Harry Israelson, photographer, curator and filmmaker Manon Macasaet, Australian documentary and spot director Selina Miles, photographer Jason Al Taan, directors Petra Collins, Hans Emanuel and Nick Cammilieri….
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights for Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO, a vision of modern Europe as seen through the eyes of a donkey, which has been one of the most discussed films of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered in competition and won the Jury Prize. EO is presented by Skopia Film and Jeremy Thomas and stars Sandra Drzymalska, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz and Isabelle Huppert. It was produced and the screenplay written by Ewa Piaskowska and Skolimowski. Eileen Tasca is co-producer. Jeremy Thomas is EP. Sideshow and Janus Films are planning a fall 2022 theatrical release….
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