Brooklyn-based Greenpoint Pictures has infused its roster with directorial talent, adding Evan Dennis, Logan Roos (a company in-house editor and DP for many years), We Are Not Pilgrims (Chaddy Chad and Sam Sneed), Va$htie, Olivier Agostini, the duo of Tank + Bunker (Judah Lev-Dickstein and Justin Liberman), Alyesa Young, and Alex 2tone. These directors join a Greenpoint lineup which continues to feature such helmers as The Hudson Dusters, Jacob Lincoln, Philip Knowlton, Nico Carbonaro and Benjamin Leavitt. Greenpoint Pictures was founded in 2002 by Michael Kuhn, with fellow partner and executive producer Jacob Lincoln joining in 2010….Detour Films, headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., has signed director Tony Benna for exclusive commercial representation. Benna unites his unique stop motion background with live action narratives to create heartfelt films for the commercial world and beyond. His projects include a series of docu-style films for Dove Men as well as a series of beautiful vignettes filmed while driving across America to promote the Sh-100 camera for Samsung. The mini-documentaries for Samsung were created and produced by Mekanism. Benna also co-directed a Pepsi spot for last year’s Superbowl. The flipbook-inspired ad was made up of user-submitted photographs, which flashed forward seamlessly to launch the halftime show…. Seattle and L.A.-based agency WONGDOODY has hired Dennis Lee as associate creative director. Lee will work out of the L.A. office, and will develop creative initiatives for clients including Scion, VIZIO and Epson, working closely with exec creative director Pam Fujimoto. Prior to joining WONGDOODY, Lee was associate creative director at Ogilvy & Mather, L.A. During his previous six-year tenure at WONGDOODY, he contributed to projects for ESPN College GameDay, ESPN2, ESPYs, Autodesk, Epson, Carl’s Jr. and Mercury Insurance….
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