Union actors are again available for spots, ending a nearly six-month-long strike against the advertising industry. The board of directors of SAG and AFTRA voted last Saturday (10/28) to authorize their rank and file to return to work on commercials. Members of the two actors’ unions are expected to formally ratify the contract by the end of this month….Meanwhile, word is that the AICP and the DGA have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year spot contract. Details to come….Ward Emling, director of the Mississippi Film Office, has been re-elected to a two-year term as president of the Association of Film Commissioners International….Bicoastal RSA USA has added directors Regan Cameron, Thomas Job, Johnny Hardstaff and Carl Rinsch….Director Robert Black and his executive producer, Lynne Pateman, formerly of Santa Monica-based Message, have joined Orbit Productions, Hollywood….Director/3-D animator Dave Foss and live action director/graphic designer Bil White have signed with Class-Key Chew-Po Commercials, Hollywood. Class-Key Chew-Po is the spot division of Hollywood-headquartered animation studio Klasky Csupo….Director Laurent Chanez has joined New York-based Naked Project for spot representation….Chicago-based NuWorld Editorial is slated to close Dec. 1, after its landmark brownstone was sold to investors. The four NuWorld partners–editors Bob Carr, Michael LaBellarte, Joe Malecki and the mono-monikered Yamus–plan to work independently….Barry Snyder has been named president of Post Logic Studios, Hollywood and Santa Monica. He formerly served as VP of postproduction at Warner Bros….Dana Horrell and Kim Massman have joined Santa Monica-based Wojahn Bros. Music as producers. Horrell comes from TVN Entertainment, Burbank, where she most recently served as affiliate sales manager. Massman’s previous roost was Chicago-headquartered Steve Ford Music, working out of Los Angeles as its West Coast sales manager; she also produced for the Ford shop….
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More