By Robert Goldrich
This issue’s installment of our Road To Oscar Series includes a DP and an editor affirming the importance of doing justice to a character–whether fictional or real. On the latter score, editor Nat Sanders, ACE reflected on Just Mercy (Warner Bros.), directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
Just Mercy stars Michael B. Jordan as Bryan Stevenson, a Harvard Law School grad who co-founded Alabama’s Equal Justice Initiative in the 1980s to defend death row prisoners, mostly people of color. Among them is the wrongly accused Walter McMillian (played by Jamie Foxx) who in 1988 was sentenced to death for the murder of a local young white woman. Based on Stevenson’s 2014 book “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” the film does justice to this activist attorney, and his commitment to his clients, opening our eyes to such issues as judicial reform, the death penalty and racial profiling.
Sanders said, “People might think it was heavy or depressing to be working on such intense subject matter but it was actually kind of the opposite. It felt inspiring. We had a sense of purpose, responsibility and pride, feeling the call to get Bryan’s message out there to a larger audience.”
However, there can also be a higher calling for telling a fictional character’s story–in this case Arthur Fleck whom we see evolve into the Joker. Lawrence Sher, ASC lensed Joker (Warner Bros.) for director Todd Phillips, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Fleck/Joker. Phillips and Sher departed from the comic book movie norm, teaming on a character study of social outcast Fleck who lives in a world of despair, alienation and bullying, which sheds light on how the Joker came to be, even evoking empathy for him at times.
Sher said that Joker affirms that “you can combine art and commerce. We were able to be artful and put that side of filmmaking to the forefront and it didn’t hurt the commerce. Art at times can feel self-conscious and isolating to the audience. But in this film, we were able to combine these two forces–great mass appeal serving the commerce side while also feeling uncompromised from the artistic side. As challenging and difficult as it was at times, this movie has resonated for audiences. The big picture takeaway is that audiences are cool with being challenged–they don’t just want things to be cotton candy easy. They want something different.”
Human promotes Kamela Anderson to West Coast EP and head of sync
Music production and supervision company Human has promoted Kamela Anderson to West Coast executive producer and head of sync. In this new role, Anderson will oversee all West Coast operations for Human, including PostHuman, an independent postproduction entity.
As Human’s former head of sync and A&R, Anderson helped build the music supervision department. Anderson has spent the past eight years in various roles within Human. She has grown with the company as a rising voice in commercial music.
Anderson’s career in advertising began in sales at HSI Productions before joining Anonymous Content to work in its in-house sales department. After that, her journey at Human began, where Anderson worked on several notable brand films that went on to win many industry awards, including four Clio Awards, a Bronze Pencil, a Gold Andy Award, and a Silver Lion. Her work at Human spans brands like Apple, Xbox, Adidas, Samsung, Amazon, BMW, Netflix, NFL, Meta, Gatorade, Google, Doritos, Mountain Dew, and a Nike spot which garnered recognition from the soundtrack’s artist. For “Dream Further,” Nike’s gloriously girl-powered ad promoting the Women’s World Cup, Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” was synced, delivering optimal emotional impact. Jett later lauded this needle drop as “stunning” and “carrying a strong message beyond the brand” while being honored that year with a Bronze Clio.
“I built HumanSupervision as a new offering in 2020, and we’re continuing to expand our reach, both on the West Coast and internationally,” remarked Anderson. “My creative partner Mike Jurasits and I are very hands-on collaborators and continue to push the envelope with our artist partnerships. Recently, we took a simple music supervision... Read More