We open on a dog holding a leash in its mouth at the front door, clearly asking to be taken for a walk. Cut to three people–dad, mom and their daughter–seated on the couch, each encased in full body casts from head to toe.
The father asks his son Kevin seated in a nearby chair if he would take out the pooch who’s named Baxter. Kevin, incidentally, looks like your average teen. However, he stands out because he is not encased in a cast.
Kevin declines to take Baxter for a stroll, explaining that he’s busy. But he will be happy to have his Djinn characters take on the task. These animated creations (straight from video game land) approach Baxter, causing a fearful mom to repeatedly and urgently declare that they are “like monsters.”
Sure enough, there’s an explosion when the Djinn avatars reach Baxter. The smoke clears to reveal that the dog is too now in a full body cast.
A message appears on screen advising us to “Use your Djinn responsibly.” You can do so, playfully deploying dozens of Djinn characters, in the Nintendo DS game Golden Sun Dark Dawn. Also Nintendo DS systems are selling at a $20 discount.
Keith Schofield of Caviar directed “Body Cast” for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco. VFX house was The Mill LA.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More