Director Matthieu Mantovani has joined Photoplay Films for exclusive representation in Australia and New Zealand after completing their first project together. Mantovani, an accomplished comedy and visual narrative director based in Paris, recently worked with Photoplay on a local campaign for NAB, “This Is The Story Of Progress,” with agency Clemenger BBDO. He is behind campaigns for Volkswagen, Peugeot, Audi and Mercedes-Benz–including “The Encounter” for BBDO Paris–and has also directed recent campaigns for insurance giant Allianz and Italian online fashion retailer YOOX. Mantovani has additionally collaborated with creative agencies including BETC, Jung Von Matt, Euro RSCG, Palm Havas and Ogilvy. Among some of his best-known work is “Hippies” for Volkswagen in which aging children of the Flower Power era reminisce over old photographs of a much loved VW van and are then spellbound by the arrival of the new version of the classic vehicle. Mantovani also directed the acclaimed campaign for Longines’ watches featuring Kate Winslet, Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Asian film star Chi Ling Lin, along with the short film Broadway, which screened at the New York Museum of Modern Art….
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