Fords

• The Aeromotive Group and Roadster Shop announced today that the organizations have merged to create a new automotive aftermarket powerhouse.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231018341999/en/
  Roadster Shop co-founders, Jeremy and Phil Gerber (Photo: Business Wire)
  “As a lifelong enthusiast, I’m thrilled to announce this partnership between The Aeromotive Group and Roadster Shop,” said Laurent Potdevin, CEO of The Aeromotive Group.
• “Our partnership with The Aeromotive Group gives us the opportunity to fuel accelerated growth and supercharge our expansion,” said Jeremy Gerber, co-owner of Roadster Shop.
• “I look forward to writing the next chapter in Roadster Shop history with our partners at The Aeromotive Group,” said Phil Gerber, co-owner of Roadster Shop.

• Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE: BFA, BFB) announced today that President and Chief Executive Officer Lawson Whiting and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Leanne Cunningham will participate in a “fireside chat” during the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference in Boston on Wednesday, September 6, 2023.
• The event will begin at approximately 12:45 p.m. (ET) and will be available as a webcast on the Brown-Forman website at brown-forman.com on the Investors/Events & Presentations page.
• A replay will be available on the Brown-Forman website for at least 30 days following the event.
• Brown-Forman’s brands are supported by approximately 5,600 employees globally and sold in more than 170 countries worldwide.

• A live audio broadcast of the conference call will be available via Brown-Forman’s website, brown-forman.com , through a link to "Investors/Events & Presentations."
• A digital audio recording of the conference call will be available on the website approximately two hours after the conclusion of the conference call.
• The replay will be available for at least 30 days following the conference call.
• Interested parties are also invited to join the conference call by registering for the call in advance here .

• Saddle up, don the fedora and crack that whip: Harrison Ford is back as the intrepid archaeologist in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
• The film premiered at Cannes, where Ford was awarded an Honorary Palme d’Or in recognition of his life’s work.

Role returns

Ford first played Indy in 1981 and last played him in 2008. That is a full 15 years since the most recent film in the series, and 42 years since his first outing in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Ford has form in returning to celebrated characters. One of the great pleasures of watching The Force Awakens back in 2015 was seeing Ford play Han Solo again for the first time in over 30 years. Actors return to roles for numerous reasons:
• And still, I’m intrigued to see what Michael Mann could do with his long-rumoured sequel to Heat, his definitive 1995 crime film.
• Read more:
  Heat 2, the book sequel to Michael Mann's film, is 'fundamentally bizarre' – but superb

Undoing time

• Actors used to just play characters of their own age when reprising earlier roles.
• Here, it is as if we are getting two Fords for the price of one: the “younger”, fitter Indy and the older, more world-weary version.
• Some viewers complain that the whole process is distracting and that the hyper-real visual look of de-aged scenes resembles a video game.
• Given its reduced cost, speed and reduced human input, AI-driven innovation might have industry-changing ramifications.

The star of Ford

• Harrison Ford remains a bona fide “movie star” in an industry profoundly buffeted by COVID, the rise of streaming platforms, the demise of the monoculture, and the changing nature of who constitutes a star.
• In the midst of all this industry uncertainty, it seems there is no longer a statute of limitations on actors returning to much-loved characters.