Director Wrye Martin has joined the roster of Mirror Films. A key creative talent behind Butterfinger 13th, launched on Facebook last week to more than one million Facebook fans, Martin directed the short in collaboration with actor/director Rob Lowe and Threshold Interactive's John Montgomery. Martin's commercial helming credits include such clients as ESPN, Nikon, Disney, Target and Microsoft….Director Michael Downing has joined Partners Film for Canadian representation. Downing continues to be repped by Epoch Films in the U.S. and Independent in London. Previous to joining Partners, Downing was represented in Canada by Suneeva. Downing broke onto the commercial film scene in 2004 with his “Boardroom” spot for Science World via Rethink that earned him two Gold Pencils at the 2005 One Show and a Bronze Lion at Cannes. In 2005, his U.S. Spot “Skydiver” for Bud Light, via DDB Chicago, ranked number one on USA Today's Big Game Ad Meter for the 2005 Super Bowl. Since then he has gone on to direct notable work for Stride, Orbitz, Honda, Toyota, Wendy's, Burger King, Comcast and HBO, among others….Publicis New York has brought Jeremy Holden on board to serve as chief strategy officer, a new position at the agency, effective Nov. 7. Holden was most recently partner/exec VP/director of account planning at McKinney in Durham, N.C., until late last year, when he left to write his first book, Culture Shifts, which examines historical, political, cultural and commercial movements, and will be published by Prometheus books in fall 2012….Longtime Sonic Union, New York staffer Justine Cortale has been promoted to studio manager and has been named an associate director of the company…Pomann Sound, NY, has promoted engineer Josh Moyer to executive producer….
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