Film and animation production company Not To Scale has brought executive creative director Richard Hickey on board to head its recently launched office in Hollywood, Calif. Not To Scale now has a total of four shops–the other three being its London headquarters, with studios in New York and Amsterdam. Hickey has experience in developing features both as an individual director and at studios such as Disney, Paramount and Sony. He additionally sports a background as a director and creative director of live action and animated commercials. As previously reported, Not To Scale's L.A. studio has added for exclusive commercial representation in all territories the Academy Award-winning director John Kahrs, the ex-Pixar/Disney animator and director of the shorts Paperman and June. He won the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 2013 for Paperman…..
The Collective @ LAIR has signed narrative filmmaker/writer Laurence Thrush for exclusive representation in branded films, digital and network content. The company also handles Thrush non-exclusively for commercials nationwide. Thrush, who’s a Clio Best Young Director and A Young Gun Award recipient, has turned out spots for clients including MasterCard, Honda, Toyota, HP, Southwest, Amstel Light, Adobe and McDonald’s. His directorial credits also encompass a pair of feature films, Left Handed which was Best Feature at the Milan Film Festival, and A Different Light which made its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival…..
Production company Seven Sunday Films in Jakarta, Indonesia, has launched a new content division, The Eight Sunday. Headed by Indonesian producer Yugi Darmawan. The Eight Sunday will primarily concentrate on digital video content, and will also undertake some smaller budget TV commercials, particularly when working directly with brands. Just prior to opening The Eight Sunday, Seven Sunday Films produced a regional job for Uber directed by Mark Toia and shot in Indonesia. Seven Sunday Films EP Rodney Vincent said the digital job is a good example of the type of projects The Eight Sunday will take on….
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