Strange Beast Grows
Design-focused production company Strange Beast, London, has signed Parallel Teeth, a.k.a. Rob Wallace, for representation in the U.K. and Europe. Based in his native New Zealand, Wallace is a director, animator and illustrator whose talents span multiple disciplines, from 2D line drawings and stop motion, to 3D CG graphics and puppetry. His work has been screened at international film and animation festivals including Pictoplasma and File Anima+ and has been exhibited in group shows in the USA, Australia and Japan. In 2013 he was named a Young Gun by the Art Directors Club. Perhaps Parallel Teeth’s most impressive project to date is his 2013 music video for Ladi6’s track ‘Shine On’, which involved creating three distinct worlds inhabited by puppets.
Pet Gorilla born
Director Luc Schurgers and EP Dominic Bernacchi announced the official opening of their integrated production company Pet Gorilla. Based in Los Angeles, the house also sports creative directors Reza Rasoli and Bobby Lewis. The shop has actually been operating since the end of 2013 with work for HBO’s Game of Thrones, art installations for NBC, an online interactive program for The Shelter Pet Project, and the ongoing Skype ReRouted. Schurgers and Bernacchi previously worked together at MINIVEGAS….
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