Visual effects, animation and stereo conversion company DNEG has hired sr. VFX supervisor Chas Jarrett. His most recent work was as production VFX supervisor on Guy Ritchie’s live-action remake of Disney’s Aladdin, which involved every type of visual effects work–from character animation, performance capture, set extensions, digital environments and FX simulations to signature moments of Genie magic.
Prior to Aladdin, Jarrett was the production VFX supervisor on director James Mangold’s gritty final chapter of the Wolverine story, Logan; on director Joe Wright’s reimagining of the fairy-tale world of Pan; and for both of Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.
Over the course of his 20-year career in visual effects, Jarrett has received numerous accolades including an Oscar nomination for Poseidon (2006), a BAFTA nomination for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and a Visual Effects Society Award win for his work on Sherlock Holmes (2009).
Jarrett also enjoys a long-standing working relationship with director Tim Burton; following his work as VFX supervisor on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Jarrett reunited with the director as production VFX supervisor on Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and again on the Burton-directed music video for “Bones” by The Killers, which earned a VES Award nomination for its visual effects.
DNEG CEO Namit Malhotra described Jarrett as “an outstanding creative leader with a passion for storytelling, a talent for developing long-term collaborative relationships with directors, and a wealth of creative and technical experience in supervising and guiding teams through the process of creating complicated, high-end visual effects for major motion pictures.” H
Jarrett said, “I’ve admired DNEG’s work for many years and their run of Academy Awards successes is incredible–four Oscar wins in five years is a testament to the strength of their creative and technical abilities. DNEG is a force to be reckoned with and I’m excited to be a part of the vision that Namit and the leadership team are laying out for the future of the VFX industry.”
DNEG is currently in production on a slate of highly anticipated film projects, including Dune, Wonder Woman 1984, Fast & Furious 9, Chaos Walking and Last Night in Soho.
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.
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