Luma Pictures, an independent creative studio with offices in Los Angeles and Melbourne, has added Shauna Bryan to its visual effects team. She will lead client acquisitions and develop and oversee production strategy as a senior leader of business development and executive producer of VFX.
A 25-year industry veteran with diverse accomplishments, Bryan has led large visual effects operations in the U.K. and Canada. Prior to joining Luma Pictures, Bryan served as VP of new business and production executive for Sony Pictures Imageworks, as well as VP of Method Studios, Vancouver. At the forefront of the visual effects industry in Western Canada, Bryan was one of Vancouver’s first to produce visual effects on high caliber, internationally recognized feature films including The Da Vinci Code, Blades of Glory and Angels & Demons. Bryan’s recent credits include Spider-Man: Homecoming, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The MEG, Suicide Squad and The Maze Runner.
Prior to moving into visual effects, Bryan worked for over a decade in physical production as well as in film development. She studied film at the University of British Columbia and graduated with honors from the Vancouver Film School.
Bryan takes an interest in contributing to the film community and is involved in promoting the art and science of visual effects as a member of the executive board of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and as a section chair for the Visual Effects Society.
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