Hugh Bacher has been named executive producer at TWC Films, the company presided over by managing director/exec producer Mark Thomas and producer Ralph Winter. Bacher's credentials include a long tenure at Tate USA where he worked with top directors, producing hundreds of commercials all over the U.S. and around the globe. TWC's directorial roster includes Suthon Petchsuwan, Arni Thor Jonsson, Ken Lambert, Sven Super, No Brain, Terry Rietta, Jereon Moll and Tim Brown….Third Street Mining Company, Los Angeles, has added the Austin, TX-based comedy team Ben/Dave to its directorial roster. The duo was working independently in Austin, where their credits included Jarritos Mexican sodas, Mrs. Fields Cookies and Vegas.com, with the latter being shortlisted at Cannes. The two originally met in Salt Lake City, where Dave was a writer and creative director for the local office of Calgary's Rare Method advertising and Ben had established Fueld Films. The two collaborated on several projects before Dave took a job at Crispin Porter+Bogusky's Boulder office, where he created work for Coke Zero and Microsoft and led the Domino's account. Meanwhile, in 2008, Ben moved his family and company to Austin, drawn by the city's creative film community and lifestyle. After a couple years at CP+B, Dave was looking for a change. Reconnecting with Ben, the two decided to join forces in Austin as a directing team….Denise Hauser, whose credits include Return to Sender, a mixed media short film, has joined Hornet, New York…..
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