Nexus Studios has brought Shona Collins aboard its Original Content team, in the role of sr. development producer. Collins is working alongside Christopher O’Reilly and Charlotte Bavasso, co-founders of Nexus Studios, and EP Diego Rosner to find and develop their slate of original animation ideas, existing IP and talent. Collins joins Nexus Studios from Pathé UK where she developed titles including Judy starring Renee Zellweger, Lenny Abrahamson’s The Little Stranger, and Misbehaviour starring Keira Knightly, Gugu Mbatha Raw and Jessie Buckley. Collins was previously a story editor at the British Film Institute. Prior to that, she was a writer and journalist, developing a sitcom and comedy drama with Eleven Films (Sex Education), and was a presenter and reporter on two seasons of the Channel 4 primetime TV show How To Look Good Naked. Since her arrival Collins has helped to further realize Nexus Studios’ ambition of being a home to unique voices in animation, shaping a diverse slate featuring a number of adult and family projects in development. Among these is Wishtales, a magical realist specials series with Oscar-winning talent soon to be announced. Nexus Studios is also in production on Netflix’s first original stop frame commission out of the U.K., The House. Leading stop frame directors Paloma Baeza, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Marc James Roels and Emma de Swaef are now joined by Tony Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh (Steve McQueen’s Hunger Disco Pigs), double Oscar winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel), and Oscar and BAFTA-nominated editor Barney Pilling (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Annihilation)….
Sweetshop & Green has appointed Katy Roberts as development executive across its Australia and New Zealand operations. Roberts will be responsible for sourcing, generating and assessing projects that align with Sweetshop & Green’s sensibilities, and overseeing slated projects throughout development into production. The newly created role at Sweetshop & Green is supported by Film Victoria as part of its Key Talent Placements program. This career-focused program offers Victorian screen creatives significant hands-on experience through paid placements to foster skills and professional development for early to mid-career practitioners and help build more sustainable screen businesses in the state. One of Roberts’ first projects at Sweetshop & Green will be to oversee the development for the recently announced feature film of Behrouz Boochani’s groundbreaking book No Friend But The Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison, a co-production with Aurora Films and Hoodlum Entertainment. Roberts brings in-depth experience in creative development for international audiences having previously helmed operations for VICE as its head of development for Asia Pacific. Roberts’ track record includes leading development of productions for partners including VICE, VICELAND, SBS, ABC, Al Jazeera, Dogwoof, Carver Films and Audible. Sweetshop & Green is an Australian and New Zealand production company focused on producing local film and TV projects for global audiences. The company is a new partnership between Sweetshop founder Sharlene George and awarded international producer Gal Greenspan (Green Productions)….
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