Furlined has added director Nora Kirkpatrick, a fresh new voice in comedy, to its roster for commercial representation in the U.S. and U.K. In addition to being a filmmaker, Kirkpatrick is a writer, actress and musician. On the latter score, she was a founding member of the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Kirkpatrick has appeared as a comedic actress in films and TV shows, including portraying Esther (Dwight’s girlfriend) in The Office. Collaborations with Will Ferrell, Olivia Wilde and SNL alum Mike O’Brien spawned several comedic series that Kirkpatrick has written and/or directed, including Assisted Living (CBS), Virtually Mike and Nora (Hulu), Best Seller (Comedy Central) and the soon-to-be released TV series The Coop, in association with Funny Or Die. The acclaimed short film Kirkpatrick wrote and directed, Long Time Listener, First Time Caller, is a tragicomic portrait of a woman in search of answers to life’s existential questions. Kirkpatrick is a writer on the new Amazon series Daisy Jones & The Six, and is currently directing an episode of The Goldbergs (ABC)….
L.A.-based director Jonny Mass has joined production company Radke for exclusive representation in Canada. He continues to be handled by m ss ng p eces in the U.S. ad market. Mass, who’s directed projects for such brands as Michelin, Porsche, Spotify, BMW, Facebook and Ford, earned inclusion into this year’s SHOOT New Directors Showcase…..
Production company Strange Loop Studios has brought commercial director Mark Pallman aboard its roster. Known for infusing light, subtly absurd comedy into everyday routines and scenarios, Pallman has directed campaigns for clients such as McDonald’s, U.S. Bank, Esurance, Hefty and Illinois Tourism. He’s a veteran of the Chicago production community where he spent the better part of the last decade helming projects for ONE at Optimus before directing independently for leading brands….
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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