As part of the reorganization in the wake of the merger between New York ad shops Bozell and Lowe, Andrew Chinich, formerly head of production at Bozell, will replace Nick Felder as executive VP/director of broadcast production at Lowe. Felder, however, will remain at Lowe in a newly created senior role in the production department….Scott Mitchell and Chris Bing have been promoted, respectively, to director and deputy director of creative broadcast production at FCB, Chicago. They succeed senior VP/director of broadcast production Mike Leary, a longtime FCB staffer….Mark Barasch has resigned from Palace Studios-NYC and opened SoundImage at Photomag, a music/audio post shop in the former Photomag space in New York. Joining Barasch—who will hold the title of president—at SoundImage are mixers Bobby Elder, Kenny Fredrickson, P. Dennis Mitchell, Michael Levesque and Jared Seidman, as well as director of operations Lucy DeJesus….New York-based audioEngine has added mixer John Grant, formerly of Photomag, New York….Albert Hughes, half of the Hughes brothers directing duo (From Hell, Dead Presidents, Menace II Society), has signed with @Tate, Santa Monica, for exclusive spot representation. At press time, he was wrapping an @Tate-produced EA Sports campaign for Odiorne Wilde Narraway+Partners, San Francisco. Meanwhile, Allen Hughes is currently directing a pilot for USA Network about a special investigative unit that tracks serial killers. He continues to be affiliated with Oil Factory Films, Hollywood, and will again be available for commercials effective April 8….Executive producer Elvia Gaitan has launched Pistolera Post. The new Santa Monica shop opens with editors Patrick Sheffield and Greg Chamberlain….Editor Chris Jones has joined DownStream digital, Portland, Ore…..After eight years in the New York office of bicoastal Crew Cuts, editor Nicole Futoran has joined Steel Rose Editorial, New York…. Blair Hayes is currently directing a one-hour pilot for producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Warner Bros. Television. The drama is titled Fearless and is based on the series of young adult novels by Francine Pascal. Hayes is scheduled to again be available for spot work beginning April 7 via Area 51 Films, Santa Monica….
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