Word is that a new series of BMW short films is in the works, again with bicoastal Anonymous Content securing feature helmers for the projects, which will run on bmwfilms.com. The initial series of shorts—helmed by Ang Lee, John Frankenheimer, Guy Ritchie, Wong Kar-Wai and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu—has generated significant traffic on the BMW Web site (SHOOT, 5/11, p. 1). Ad agency is Fallon Minneapolis….Speaking of the BMW films, the first short to hit the Internet earlier this year—the Frankenheimer-directed Ambush—entailed extensive shooting on public roads in California. That production tapped into Film California First, the anti-runaway production program which provides reimbursement for certain filming-related costs. According to the California Film Commission, which administers the program, Film California First reimbursed more than $17,000 to the Ambush project. Film California First recently received a state budget allocation of $10 million for its second year (SHOOT, 8/10, p. 1)….Animation director/designer Denis Morella has officially come aboard San Francisco animation studio Wild Brain. His last roost was the former San Francisco office of New York-headquartered Curious Pictures. Prior to that, he had a long tenure at now defunct (Colossal) Pictures….Crew Cuts, with bases of operation in New York and Santa Monica, has reopened its San Francisco office, securing space in the building that houses post/effects house Radium. Christie Cash, who was named executive producer of Crew Cuts/West, Santa Monica, in June, will also assume executive producer duties at Crew Cuts, San Francisco….Fireworks Motion Media, a Miami-based postproduction/visual effects studio, has been purchased from Steve Minor by company staffers Wally Rodriguez and Anabella Sosa. The firm has been renamed Upstairs, with Rodriguez as director of visual effects, and Sosa acting as director of creative services….Editor Grant MacDowell has joined Venice, Calif.-based Brass Knuckles….
Apple TV+’s “Dope Thief” Is Latest In Flurry of Projects For Actor Brian Tyree Henry
If you ask Brian Tyree Henry about taking time off, he bursts out laughing.
Since breaking out as rapper Paper Boi in the FX series "Atlanta," he's become one of the busiest actors in Hollywood. He's worked consistently — with directors including Barry Jenkins, Steve McQueen and Chloe Zhao and big-name actors like Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Hemsworth and Melissa McCarthy. Henry's been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award and an Oscar.
His latest role is in the limited series "Dope Thief" for Apple TV+ premiering Friday. Henry and Wagner Moura play Ray and Manny, two longtime friends in Philadelphia who pose as federal agents, conducting fake raids to steal drugs and money. It's a series of easy scores until they rob the wrong people and become targets themselves. Soon they're hiding out from the real DEA and a drug kingpin while trying to keep their family safe.
"The minute that Wagner and I met each other, it was an instant electricity... We just felt like we knew each other all our lives," said Henry. "That is exactly what you needed for Ray and Manny."
The first episode was directed by Ridley Scott, and the series was created and written by Peter Craig, adapted from a novel by Dennis Tafoya.
Craig describes Henry's versatility as an actor as "like a jazz musician... It's fantastic for a writer, because you can throw him all kinds of added moments, and he'll incorporate and use them all."
When the opportunity to star in "Dope Thief" came about, Henry was ready for that long-awaited break — from TV. He wrapped "Atlanta" and had "about two days off" before going into another FX show, "Class of '09," where he played a character's past, present and future, and he was... Read More