Richard Denney has joined London-based indie creative agency St. Luke’s as executive creative director. He will work closely with Alan Young and Julian Vizard across St. Luke’s portfolio of clients–which includes Heineken, Very.co.uk and Aunt Bessie’s–with the aim of Denney leading and running his own accounts as the agency grows. Young, the current ECD, will take on the role of chief creative officer/owner. Vizard is creative partner/owner.
In a career spanning 21 years, including stints at RKCR/Y&R, Saatchi and Saatchi, DDB London, Denney was most recently ECD at MullenLowe London, which was named most effective UK Agency of the Year at the inaugural UK Effies in 2016 and again in 2017. He has also won multiple awards including Golds at Cannes, British Arrows, Creative Circle, Campaign Big Awards, Clios and UK Effie Golds.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More