At press time, SHOOT had learned that Shadowrock Productions, Beverly Hills, Calif., has closed its doors; no information was available regarding the status of the company’s directors….Word is that director Stuart Douglas is departing Ritts/Hayden, Los Angeles, to join Palomar Pictures, Los Angeles…C.J. Waldman, a creative director at Lowe Lintas & Partners, New York, is embarking on a directorial career. He has joined Santa Monica-based Harvest, the shop launched earlier this year by director Baker Smith and executive producer Bonnie Goldfarb….Director Scott Gillen, formerly of bicoastal Coppos Films, has joined Venice, Calif.-based Cucoloris Films….Bicoastal Go Film has signed director William Heins…Dark Light Pictures, Hollywood, has secured directors David Steinberg and director/cinematographer Gale Tattersall for exclusive U.S. representation….Director Christina Hodnet, formerly of bicoastal Celsius Films, has joined Los Angeles-based house c.2K for exclusive U.S. representation…. Director/graphic designer Steven Murashige has joined bicoastal/international The Artists Company for commercial and music video representation….Director Doug Werby has formally signed with San Francisco-based house kaboom productions….Music video director Tamarat Makonnen has joined Hollywood-based DNA….Composer Manny Mendelson has left his Chicago-based commercial music shop, Com/track, and has sold his shares of the company to composer Bryan Rheude and executive producer Linda Zic, according to Rheude; in the wake of Mendelson’s departure, former Com/track composer Ron Steele Jr. has returned to his own previous Chicago-based music firm, I Dig Music…Alex Brodie has come aboard 525 Studios, Santa Monica, as Henry artist/creative director. He previously served as lead artist of Base 2 Studios, Los Angeles, which he co-founded….VisionART, the visual effects production arm of Santa Monica Studios, has been acquired by Compudyne Winfosystems, Ltd., an international information technology company based in Bangalore, India. Per the deal, VisionArt has been renamed digital.art.media (DAM). The shop continue to be housed in its Santa Monica studio, which will soon be expanded. VisionArt VP Marc Kolbe has been named president of DAM….
Review: Writer-Director Mark Anthony Green’s “Opus”
In the new horror movie "Opus," we are introduced to Alfred Moretti, the biggest pop star of the '90s, with 38 No. 1 hits and albums as big as "Thriller," "Hotel California" and "Nebraska." If the name Alfred Moretti sounds more like a personal injury attorney from New Jersey, that's the first sign "Opus" is going to stumble.
John Malkovich leans into his regular off-kilter creepy to play the unlikely pop star at the center of this serious misfire by the A24 studio, a movie that also manages to pull "The Bear" star Ayo Edebiri back to earth. How both could be totally miscast will haunt your dreams.
Writer-director Mark Anthony Green has created a pretty good premise: A massive pop star who went quiet for the better part of three decades reemerges with a new album — his 18th studio LP, called "Caesar's Request" — and invites a select six people to come to his remote Western compound for an album listening weekend. It's like a golden ticket.
Edebiri's Ariel is a one of those invited. She's 27, a writer for a hip music magazine who has been treading water for three years. She's ambitious but has no edge. "Your problem is you're middle," she's told. Unfortunately, her magazine boss is also invited, which means she's just a note-taker. Edebiri's self-conscious, understated humor is wasted here.
It takes Ariel and the rest of the guests — an influencer, a paparazzo, a former journalist-nemesis and a TV personality played by Juliette Lewis, once again cast as the frisky sexpot — way too much time to realize that Moretti has created a cult in the desert. And they're murderous. This is Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" crossed with Mark Mylod's "The Menu."
It's always a mistake to get too close a look at the monster in a horror... Read More