Director Chris Hooper, best known for his work in comedy, has joined bicoastal Über Content for exclusive U.S. spot representation. He comes over from Santa Monica-based Bob Industries and is currently shooting his first project with Über, for McDonald’s via Moroch Partners, Dallas.
Hooper brings agency creative sensibilities to the director’s chair, having first established himself as a creative at TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles and Toronto, and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. His first directorial roost was bicoastal Tool of North America, after which he landed at Bob Industries.
Hooper’s spot helming credits include notable work for Volkswagen, DirecTV and Budweiser, and honors from competitions that include the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, The One Show and the AICP Show.
Headed by partners/exec producers Phyllis Koenig and Preston Lee, Über has a directors’ roster comprised of Hooper, Jordan Brady, Jeffrey Fleisig, Luis Gerard, Jason Kohn, Dave Laden, Marc Schölermann, and Steven Tsuchida.
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