Creative studio Aggressive has expanded into a bigger collective: Loop, Niceshit, Andrey Trevgoda, and Melody Maker have come aboard, joining the company’s founders Alex Topaller and Daniel Shapiro. Loop is a multidisciplinary collective specializing in creative and art direction, visual storytelling, and motion design. Its portfolio includes cutting-edge videos for Adidas, and data-inspired projects for Intel, as well as cinematic and atmospheric opening sequences for Amazon’s Inside The Boys. Barcelona-based trio Niceshit consists of Carmen Angelillo, Guido Lambertini, and Rodier Kidmann, turning out illustration and animation work that’s notable for its playful character design, bold colors, and humorous narratives–from elegant line-driven projects for Google and Offline CBD, to complex 2D mixed with 3D pieces like The Feelings or live-action driven Shoe Show. Creative commercial and music video director Trevgoda uses his visual language to solve communication problems over multi-format media for brands such as VICE, TikTok, and Nestlé. Melody Maker started out styling artists like M.I.A., Rihanna, and Iggy Azalea before joining the cult youth brand BOY London as creative director. A veteran of The Mill, Melody has to her credit music videos for Gorgon City and Greentea Peng, the gravity-defying Oppo “Shake,” as well as films for clients such as Logitech, Gillette and Herbal Essences. Topaller and Shapiro teamed as a duo to garner Grammy, MTV VMA, The One Show and D&AD awards recognition. Their experiences have been exhibited at SXSW, Global Expo Dubai and The UN General Assembly….
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