The Mill has promoted Tony Robins to managing director of its New York studio.
Previously head of operations and prior to that head of 2D, Robins brings 25+ years of experience within the VFX industry to the role. As a pioneering artist and creative leader within The Mill’s New York studio for 13 years, Robins has a deep understanding of the company’s talent, culture and growth potential. He is credited with forging some of the studio’s top creative relationships and has been a driving force behind its award-winning creative success within the visual effects industry.
In the newly appointed role, he will work closely with The Mill’s global management team to explore growth opportunities within the company’s three core sectors: visual effects, creative production and experiential marketing. With an eye to the future, Robins will focus on new market trends and creative possibilities that can benefit from the intersection of creativity and emerging technologies within VFX.
Robins joins the newly appointed global leadership team of Misha Stanford Harris who’s managing director in London; Anstasia Von Rahl, managing director, Los Angeles; Tracey Kahn, managing director, Chicago; and Justin Stiebel, managing director, Berlin.
Robins said, “Our industry has experienced enormous change in the last year that is presenting new opportunities across content creation, technology, collaborative working and more. I’m excited to explore these opportunities with our incredible talent base in New York, looking to the future evolution of The Mill and our creative community as a whole.”
Josh Mandel, global CEO of The Mill, added, “Tony has shown himself a strong champion of people and their careers at The Mill, which makes him an excellent candidate to lead The Mill’s New York studio and foster the growth and development of our staff. At The Mill, creativity is at the heart of everything we do, so I think it’s fitting to see an artist take over management of our East Coast base.”
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More