Dom Butler and Liam Riddler (known as Dom & Liam) have joined McCann London. The multi-award winning creative team had been at Grey London since 2013. While at Grey they worked together as creative leads for WildAid and for clients including Gillette and The Times/Sunday Times. They also contributed to pitch wins for Scope, McVitie’s, Braun, General Mills and Post-it. Awards recognition for Dom & Liam includes two recent Cannes Lions Silvers and a Euro Effies Gold and Silver last year. Liam, while at 303 Mullen Lowe in Australia from 2011-2013, had previously won Gold in the Australian Cannes Young Lions and also took Silver in the global competition. Dom meanwhile picked up a number of his own accolades as a student (D&AD Best New Blood, YCN and One Show), followed by The Drum Print Ad of the Year in 2013….
Aero Film has signed director Dara Bratt, marking the first time she’s joined the roster of a commercial production company. Her credits include the short film In Vivid Detail, the poetic butterfly tale Flutter, shot in Vietnam, and the feature documentary The Singing Abortionist. She also wrote and directed several beauty and lifestyle spots for L’Oreal and Maybelline….
Independent San Francisco creative agency Cutwater has brought Melissa Macarian on board as an art director. She will be working across all of Cutwater’s accounts including Brawny, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, MDsave and American Giant. Prior to Cutwater, Macarian served as an art director for The Brooklyn Brothers where she spearheaded numerous campaigns including the launch of Blink Fitness (an Equinox company). Macarian started her advertising career at Crispin Porter+Bogusky in Miami and eventually relocated to New York where she was a designer at Rosie Labs LLC….
Review: Writer-Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s “Heretic”
"Heretic" opens with an unusual table setter: Two young missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are discussing condoms and why some are labeled as large even though they're all pretty much a standard size. "What else do we believe because of marketing?" one asks the other.
That line will echo through the movie, a stimulating discussion of religion that emerges from a horror movie wrapper. Despite a second-half slide and feeling unbalanced, this is the rare movie that combines lots of squirting blood and elevated discussion of the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
Our two church members — played fiercely by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East — are wandering around trying to covert souls when they knock on the door of a sweet-looking cottage. Its owner, Mr. Reed, offers a hearty "Good afternoon!" He welcomes them in, brings them drinks and promises a blueberry pie. He's also interested in learning more about the church. So far, so good.
Mr. Reed is, of course, if you've seen the poster, the baddie and he's played by Hugh Grant, who doesn't go the snarling, dead-eyed Hannibal Lecter route in "Heretic." Grant is the slightly bumbling, bashful and self-mocking character we fell in love with in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but with a smear of menace. He gradually reveals that he actually knows quite a bit about the Mormon religion — and all religions.
"It's good to be religious," he says jauntily and promises his wife will join them soon, a requirement for the church. Homey touches in his home include a framed "Bless This Mess" needlepoint on a wall, but there are also oddities, like his lights are on a timer and there's metal in the walls and ceilings.
Writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood — who also... Read More