Superprime–a Culver City, Calif.-based production house headed by managing director/EP Rebecca Skinner, managing director/sales Michelle Ross and managing director John Lesher–has entered into a partnership with international shop Iconoclast. The deal gives the Superprime directorial roster access to the European ad market. Those Superprime directors include Oscar-nominated directors Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Inherent Vice), Oscar winner Martin Scorsese (The Departed, Taxi Driver, Wolf of Wall Street), director David LaChapelle, documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman, and comedy performer-turned-director Jason Bateman, alongside the likes of Samuel Bayer, Scott Cooper, James Gray (UK only), Samir Mallal (UK only), The Malloys, Ben Quinn and Eli Sverdloy (France only). They add to an Iconoclast lineup which includes directors Romain Gavras, Gustav Johansson, Gus Van Sant and Harmony Korine for the U.K. and French markets. Iconoclast is headed by U.K. managing director Anna Smith and France’s EP Charlotte Marmion….
Ehsan B has joined the directorial roster of ACNE for representation in the U.S., Sweden and Amsterdam. Ehsan B’s first-ever commercial directing gig for luxury mobile phone brand Vertu led him to be nominated for the 2014 Young Director Award at Cannes. He has since been commissioned by the likes of Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, River Island, Burberry, Dior (Wonderland magazine), Saint Laurent, Guerlain, and Samsung, and nominated for awards at the La Jolla Film Festival and by Vogue.com and Le Book for the NYFW Film Festival. Ehsan B has already hit the ground running at ACNE, helming spots for Jaguar, BMW and Nissan Leaf, and putting a quirky spin on an upcoming campaign project for European high street retailer Bonita….
Logan & Sons, the live-action division of bicoastal content creation studio LOGAN, has added veteran director Christopher Kippenberger to its roster of filmmakers. As a pioneer in unmanned aerial vehicle videography, the director helped usher in a new wave of automotive filmmaking from his drone’s-eye view of Germany’s renowned Nürburgring racetrack to the beautifully shot documentary IOM TT about the revered and dangerous Isle of Man TT motorcycle race that was produced through his Studio Kippenberger shingle in just two weeks. The film, which will premiere at the Jalopnik Film Festival at the Theater at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on Saturday, September 26, follows Kippenberger’s lauded commercial work including Mercedes-Benz’s “Surf’s Up”….
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