Hungry Man has signed filmmaker LJ Johnson for worldwide representation spanning commercials and branded content.
A writer/director from Minneapolis, Johnson earned a slot in SHOOT’s 2021 New Directors Showcase. At that time she was handled by Current Resident, a small production company in Minneapolis. And this year Johnson was one of just five Fellows selected for the Commercial Directors Diversity Program (CDDP) organized by the DGA and AICP. Johnson made the CDDP cut, a program for which more than 700 directors applied. She directed her latest ad for Lays Potato Chips in collaboration with the agency High Dive.
Johnson has directed a slew of commercial campaigns and music videos, and written/directed several award-winning short films. Working with actors is Johnson’s thing. She’s known for achieving subtle and nuanced performances on set. Visually, she creates offbeat worlds that showcase the quirk and idiosyncrasies of people.
“LJ is a gifted storyteller and filmmaker,” said Hungry Man partner Mino Jarjoura. “Her comedic instincts, which are subtle and smart, blend perfectly with her cinematic eye. She’s got the instincts, talent, and drive to be a superstar. We’re incredibly excited to be her partner moving forward.”
Though details were not yet available at press time, Johnson has a project slated to make its way to HBO Max in 2023.
James Earl Jones, Lauded Actor and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies At 93
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, "The Lion King" and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.
The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of "The Gin Game" having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work.
"The need to storytell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the writer Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader ("No, I am your father," commonly misremembered as "Luke, I am your father"), as... Read More