Bicoastal production company Rocket Film has added filmmaker/photographer Ben Fink to its directorial roster. He is known for his visual storytelling in the food and lifestyle sectors. Fink has to his credit work for brands such as Kraft, McDonald’s, Burger King, Food Network, Eggo Waffles, Hellmann’s and Hillshire Farms. He has collaborated on projects with culinary stars and organizations including Bobby Flay, Daniel Boulud, Rachael Ray, Anne Burrell and the Culinary Institute of America. Beyond food, Fink has shown his versatility as both a director and photographer across the globe, from turning his camera to profile open heart surgeries on children in Peru, Belarus, China and Sudan to filming a short doc about a Russian Orthodox monk in Jordanville, New York. Via Rocket, Fink hopes to expand his scope of work from commercials and web content to more short films, features and documentaries.,,,
Culinary production house TASTE–with offices in NY, L.A. and Vienna–has signed director Margaret Elman whose reel features images from upscale Michelin-starred gastronomic cuisine to natural, rustic dishes for clients including Haagen-Dazs, Chipotle, Nestle, Dole, McDonald’s, Kikkoman, Publix, Chobani, Panera, General Mills, Campbell’s, Applebee’s, Healthy Choice and Olive Garden. Elman launched her career as an agency creative before success beckoned as an off-Broadway playwright. She left the stage to open Chair Couture, a design company making inspired furniture collections featured in design magazines worldwide. She then turned her attention to directing and now joins TASTE co-founder Thomas Schauer on the company roster. Elman also brings Becky Donahue into the fold as exec producer at TASTE, working alongside EP/head of production Nina Sloan, a long-time NY tabletop producer/AD….
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