Omnicom Group companies E-Graphics Worldwide and Hub Plus have merged to form eg+ worldwide. The new company will provide a client-focused network for production and tailored implementation solutions. E-Graphics and Hub Plus have highly complementary capabilities and a history of collaboration for their clients. Together, they will harness the latest technologies to help global brands implement, amplify and localize creative concepts across moving image, digital and print channels. The new agency will use a proprietary technology platform that offers clients a one-stop shop for asset, workflow and project management, as well as transcreation, delivery and a tried and tested transition program. eg+ will deliver its services globally through key offices in Los Angeles, London, New York, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo with additional offices in China, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, the U.K. and U.S.. The eg+ offices will be supported by digital production centers in China, India, Mexico and Poland. The more than 1,200 implementation, technology and production specialists of eg+ will be led by Paul Hosea, as CEO worldwide; Simon Toaldo, as president international; Mark Rhys Thomas, chief strategy officer worldwide; Myles Peacock, president, Americas and global client leader; and Jason Van Praagh, CTO….Director Jason Lindsay has joined the roster of Seed Media Arts. He brings multidisciplinary experience to the director’s chair. Lindsay has worked with such brands as adidas, Amazon.com, Belize Tourism, Buick, Budweiser, Centrum, Illinois Tourism, Jim Beam, Kellogg’s, Sears, Whirlpool and Condé Nast Traveler….Melody Alexander has joined The Mill’s LA studio as a VFX producer. Alexander has been part of The Mill’s global production team since early 2013 and comes over from the London studio where she served as a VFX producer….
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More