Word is that director David Kellogg has exited bicoastal/international Propaganda Films and joined 8Media, the bicoastal shop formed by Propaganda founder/former chairman Steve Golin…. Bicoastal Cohn+Company is now representing directors Olivier Venturini, Martin Bell and Mark Raymon Bennett; they join a roster that includes Paul Goldman and Paul Cade….Director Rupert Wainwright, formerly repped for spots via now defunct Pavlov Productions, has signed with Santa Monica-based Windmill Lane Productions. Wainwright is well versed in commercials and longform; he directed last year’s box office hit, Stigmata….Director P.E. Goldman, who helms spots via Aussie house 8 Commercials, has joined Ritts/Hayden, Los Angeles, for stateside spot representation….Dublin Productions, Hollywood, has added director Walter Pawluk….Film industry veteran Jack Lechner has joined bicoastal/international @radical.media to head its motion picture division. Lechner comes over from Miramax Films, where he was executive VP, production and development.…Director Glenn Miller has signed with Life of Riley, Pacific Palisades, Calif., for exclusive commercial representation. The deal formalizes a working relationship he’s had with the company as a freelancer since ’98….Bicoastal Coppos Films and executive producer Bill Reilly have parted ways….Denise Minter has been promoted to VP of production at Palo Alto, Calif.-based animation/visual effects studio Pacific Data Images (PDI). She will oversee production for PDI’s feature animation and its commercial and feature effects divisions. Minter previously served as senior producer for PDI’s commercial division….Noreen Szeluga is the new executive producer at Chicago-based Big Deahl Productions; she was formerly executive producer at Peter Elliott Productions, Chicago….Meanwhile, former Big Deahl executive producer Alan Sadler told SHOOT he is weighing his options, and plans to remain in production, possibly in the broadband arena….Citing the pressures of running a production company, veteran director Eric Young is closing his 12-year-old Minneapolis-based shop, Young & Company. While he decides his next course, Young will be available to work through Voodoo Films, Minneapolis….Editor Bill Marmor, formerly of Crew Cuts West, Santa Monica, has joined TrailHead, Santa Monica….Longstanding, New York-based Sutcliffe Music & Sound Design has relaunched itself as Wax Music & Sound Design and formed an alliance with Multi Video Group, the New York-headquartered parent to several production/post-related businesses….Smythe & Company, New York, has signed composer Tony Prendatt….Ivan Bernstein, best known for his tenure at The Post Group during the ’80s, died last month of AIDS at his home in Miami. He was 45. From ’83 to ’88, Bernstein oversaw operations at The Post Group, Hollywood. In ’88, he helped the company launch its Orlando, Fla. facility at Walt Disney World. (The Post Group has since pulled out of that Fla. operation.) Bernstein is survived by his parents and a sister….
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More