Two new at One at Optimus; hot summer for TV shows

ONE AT OPTIMUS has expanded its Chicago-Santa Monica directorial roster with the addition of L.A.-based Jim Matlosz, who will focus on sports and product/tabletop, and Ryan Bosworth, who has a heavy  design and visual effects background.

Both directors have been freelancing, with Matlosz wrapping a series of Milka Chocolate spots in Mexico. Bosworth’s current national campaign is for Verizon.

Matlosz last winter used his 20 years experience in high-speed cinematography, often used in sports and liquids spots, to the popular Chicago Blackhawk commercials for One at Optimus.  He first started working with One in 2009.

His client roster boasts brands ranging from New Balance, Calloway Golf, Nike and DIRECTV to Bud Light, Propel and Snapple.  

Bosworth’s most recent assignment was directing Project Runway Season 9 teaser promo, which included supermodel Heidi Klum.  His portfolio includes work for Dancing with the Stars, L’Oreal, Mercedes, Dell Computers, Verizon, Pontiac and many music videos.

A HOT SUMMER AHEAD with one TV series, scenes for two others and an indie pic shooting here. And who knows what news Local 476’s Mark Hogan will report after he returns from Location Expo.

*Kicking off the action is NBC’s dramatic 1960’s-period Playboy Club, produced by Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and starring Eddie Cibrian.  

Scheduled to debut in September, the 12-episode series is tentatively scheduled to start shooting July 25 through Christmas. The series has set up headquarters at Cinespace Studios where sets are under construction.  

*Simultaneously, Sony Pictures and FX’s Powers TV series is currently prepping at Chicago Studio City for a 12-day shoot starting July 13.  Based on the graphic novel, the story involves two homicide detectives who cover cases involving people with superpowers. Michael Dinner directs. 

*For an unexpected bonus, a low-budget indie from London, Just Like a Woman, will arrive June 20 for a lovely 16-day shoot.  The story is about a Chicago housewife – the very British actress Sienna Miller – who runs off to Las Vegas to compete in a belly dancing competition. Michael Dinner directs.  

*Mid-August is when Showtime’s Chicago-set Shameless series sends its quarterly second unit to shoot exteriors for at least four episodes.  The show will book at least two local actors per episode, through Paskal Rudnicke Casting.

WHEN YOU SEE THOR, Paramount’s summer blockbuster starring Chris Hemsworth and directed by Kenneth Branagh, you will hear a pivotal line voiced by former Chicagoan actor, Pat Duke, now doing great in Hollywood.

Relates Duke: “When I say, ‘Run back home Little Princess,’ Thor picks up his hammer kills my character and an epic battle ensues, lots of people die, until his father Odin shows up to rescue Thor and Loki.”  

“To get that massive threatening sound, they had a body mic on me, a Neumann 87 about 10 feet away and a Sennheiser shotgun mic about 20 feet away.  I stood in the middle of the massive sound stage matching the actor’s “lip flap,” which was projected on a giant screen,” he says.  

Currently, Duke is narrating a number of shows for Discovery: Swamp People for the History Channel and a new series, “Rock Breakers,” for National Geographic.  He plays multiple characters in an animated comedy series, Secret Mountain Fort Awesome debuting in July,

“I’m just another Chicago actor finding his way in L.A.,” say Duke with a mock sigh. 

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