The directing team of Josh Gordon and Will Speck—a.k.a. Speck.Gordon—has joined Omaha Pictures, Santa Monica. The duo had previously been with bicoastal RSA USA….Director Ago Panini has come aboard bicoastal Moxie Pictures for exclusive U.S. representation. He continues to be handled in Italy by Film Master, Rome and Milan….Director Clay Staub is joining bicoastal commercial production house Cylo tvc. He was formerly repped by now defunct The End….Director Nicolai Fuglsig has signed with bicoastal First Look Artists for spot representation in the U.S. Based in Copenhagen, Fuglsig has gained recent recognition on the strength of a short film he helmed for Levi’s that has been playing in Europe….Chris Nelson, who’s worked as a producer the past four years primarily for Ritts/Hayden, has launched a directing career, signing for spot and music video representation with the Los Angeles-based production house….Designer/ director Derich Wittliff, formerly of now-defunct Pittard Sullivan, has joined motion design and commercial production company m.o.d., Los Angeles….New York animation/design studio Pitch has added director/designer Lucy Blackwell to its roster….William Daniels won’t seek re-election as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is endorsing Valerie Harper to succeed him. Other candidates include Melissa Gilbert, Eugene Boggs and Angel Tompkins. Ballots are scheduled to be mailed to SAG membership in October, with results announced in early November….Kirk Souder, a co-founder/creative partner at Ground Zero, Marina del Rey, Calif., has left the agency to spend more time with his family….Editor Sophie Scoufaras has joined Greene & Grand, New York….Composer/sound designer Sophia Morizet has signed a deal for exclusive spot representation with Spank! Music & Sound Design, Santa Monica and Chicago…. The industry is mourning the passing of music composer/producer Tara Gregory, who was on staff at WAX Music & Sound Design, New York….
Craig Henighan Sounds Off On “Deadpool & Wolverine”
Hollywood lore has it that character actor Edmund Gwenn--while on his deathbed--quipped, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”
The second part of that darkly witty utterance remains all too true today as Craig Henighan--a Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Oscar nominee in 2019 for Roma--can attest in that he had to grapple with the sonic of being comic for this year’s box office hit, Deadpool & Wolverine (20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios).
The degree of inherent difficulty was ramped up even further because Deadpool & Wolverine had to seamlessly bring together high action-adventure exploits with moments and dialogue that tickled the funny bone. There’s a mesh of humorous banter--a staple of the franchise--along with major spectacle replete with explosions, fights, an impactful score and off-the-wall musical numbers.
Henighan explained that among the prime challenges for him from a sound perspective was having to make sure every joke landed within the construct of a superhero film. The tendency for a tentpole movie of this variety, he noted, is to gravitate towards big, loud audio spanning music, dialogue and sound effects. But the unique comedic element of Deadpool & Wolverine necessitated that re-recording mixer and supervising sound editor Henighan strike a delicate balance. “You need to get out of the way for the comedy,” he related. The jokes in a superhero film become “a real dance” as Henighan had to establish a rhythm that did justice to both the comedy and the action as the narrative moves back and forth between them--and sometimes the funny and the high energy, high decibel superhero dynamic unfold simultaneously in a scene or sequence. The “sonic fabric” has to... Read More