Director Paul Gay is joining bicoastal/international Hungry Man for worldwide representation. He was previously with now defunct Omaha Pictures in the U.S., and Paul Weiland Film Company, London, in the U.K…..Clear, a privately held, London-based commercial and feature visual effects house, will not be launching a 4k/color grading unit and hiring Mick Vincent this month, as originally planned. Clear managing director Greg Caplan told SHOOT that funding for the new unit was cancelled, so as a result the company would not be going forward with expansion. Instead, Clear will continue to focus on its primary business of spot and feature effects, which remains steady; recent work has included effects shots for Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven and for such commercials as Ford’s “Penguins” for Ogilvy & Mather, London. Also in response to the turn of events, Caplan said that Clear has downsized from 49 to 35 employees while keeping focus on its core business….Director/cameraman Gillean Proctor has signed with Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago. Crossroads initially got turned on to Proctor through its affiliation with Avion Films, Toronto…..Matt and David Cooper–owners of Lightning Media, The Vault, The Post Group and co-owners of iO Film–have purchased Hollywood-based Novastar Digital Sound. The goal is to provide a “creative campus” for the film and television communities with services including DI finishing, color correction, telecine, editing, visual effects, audio, conversions, duplication, DVD replication, and Internet design and development…. Rainmaker Limited Partnership in Vancouver, B.C. has launched a division called Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects. Warren Franklin will head the new division as president. Franklin started his career at San Rafael-based Industrial Light & Magic in ’79 and moved up to manage Lucasfilm divisions including ILM, LucasArts Games and Skywalker Sound. In 1992 he made a move to now-defunct Colossal Pictures; Franklin held subsequent positions at Cinesite Hollywood (now managed by Kodak-owned Laser Pacific) and Pinnacle Studios…..
Snubs and Surprises In Oscar NominationsÂ
In one of the more wide-open Oscar fields in recent history, there were plenty of nominations surprises Thursday. Not too long ago, it seemed that people like Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman were destined for best actress nominations, while general audience disinterest in the young Donald Trump movie "The Apprentice" might have indicated its awards chances were dead on arrival. But the members of the film academy had something different in mind. Here are some of the biggest snubs and surprises from the 97th Oscar nominations. SURPRISE: Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan, "The Apprentice" The young Trump movie "The Apprentice" has been one of the bigger awards season question marks, especially after it failed to resonate with moviegoers in theaters. And yet both Jeremy Strong, for his portrayal for Trump lawyer Roy Cohn, and Sebastian Stan (who was also in the conversation for "A Different Man" ), for playing the future two-time president, made it in. Only Strong got nominated by the Screen Actors Guild. SNUB: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, "Hard Truths" This will forever be one of the more confounding awards season oversights. Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivered one of the all-time great performances in Mike Leigh's "Hard Truths," as the perpetually aggrieved and sharp-tongued London woman Pansy. The general thinking is that it was either going to be Jean-Baptiste or Fernanda Torres, and Torres got in for the equally beloved "I'm Still Here." SNUB: Pamela Anderson, "The Last Showgirl" This is perhaps up for debate, but there was certainly a lot of goodwill behind Anderson's movie-star turn in Gia Coppola's "The Last Showgirl," especially considering her SAG nomination. But like with Jennifer Lopez and... Read More