KODE has added director Meena Ayittey to its roster for U.K. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Ayittey draws inspiration from a broad range of subject matters, including music, art, her experience as a Black woman and the issues faced by the Black community. Based in and from London, Ayittey has collaborated with Saatchi & Saatchi, Droga5, Grey, Ogilvy and Oliver, working with clients such as GSK, Puma, Olay and Panasonic. An avid screenwriter, her long form projects, such as Mama, her Black Lives Matter film, have seen her win gold at 1.4 awards, recognized as a finalist at Ciclope and shortlisted for the 2022 YDAs. Her award-winning documentary, Black Creative, looks at what it is to be Black within the U.K. advertising industry. It has been screened extensively across the globe–most notably at the Toronto Film Festival and the Independent Films awards. She also has to her credit a lauded short film, All the Little Films, which she wrote and directed….
Director and documentary filmmaker Amar Chebib has joined Toronto-based Untitled Films for Canadian representation. (Chebib continues to be repped in the U.S. ad market by Even/Odd. The Syrian-Canadian filmmaker began making videos while growing up as a skateboarder in the Middle East. Since then, his sensitive yet unsentimental documentary work has made him a rising talent in the genre. His short documentary Joe Buffalo, about an Indigenous residential school survivor turned pro skateboarder, attracted Tony Hawk as an executive producer. Chebib’s most recent short, The Runner—which was acquired and released by The New Yorker—follows an Indigenous 20-year-old who ran a sub-zero 100-mile ultramarathon to raise awareness for mental illness and depression. Chebib’s commercial work includes documentary-style spots for Beats By Dre, Casper, Bank of America, the Canadian Cancer Society, and Square…..
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