Gil Kenan

Gil Kenan

Kenan in 2007, at the 34th Annie Awards
Born (1976-10-16) October 16, 1976[1]
London, England
Alma mater UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
Occupation Film director
Years active 2006 - present
Notable work Monster House
City of Ember
Spouse(s) Eliza Chaikin (m. 2005)[1]

Gil Kenan (born October 16, 1976) is an Israeli-British-American director, best known for his work on the films Monster House and City of Ember.

Life and career

Kenan was born in London. When he was three, his family moved to Tel Aviv. At age eight, they moved to Reseda, Los Angeles.[1]

He studied at the film division of the University of California, Los Angeles where he received a MFA degree in animation in 2002.[2][3] For his graduate thesis, he created a 10-minute stop-motion/live-action film, The Lark.[2][4]

At the first public screening of the short, it caught the attention of Jordan Bealmear, who was an assistant at Creative Artists Agency.[5] The agency sent hundreds of copies of Kenan's short to anybody they could, and after a few months of interviews,[5] Robert Zemeckis offered Kenan the director's chair for the 2006 film Monster House.[5] Executive produced by Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg,[5] it was nominated for a 2006 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.[6]

Kenan's film, City of Ember, is the screen adaptation of Jeanne Duprau's 2003 novel The City of Ember.[7] Produced by Tom Hanks,[7] it was released in October 2008 to mixed reviews and poor box office results.[8][9] In 2015, Kenan's Poltergeist (2015 film) released to mixed reviews, but respectable box office results.

Personal life

In 2005,[1] Kenan married Eliza Chaikin, who served as art director on City of Ember.[3]

Filmography

Year Title Role
2004 The Lark Director, writer
2006 Monster House Director, performer: "Thou Art Dead"
2008 City of Ember Director
2015 Poltergeist[10] Director
TBA A Giant[11] Director, writer
TBA Five Nights at Freddy's[12] Director, co-writer

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Daly, Steve (July 26, 2006). "House Beautiful". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  2. 1 2 Furniss, Maureen (November 27, 2002). "Fresh from the Festivals: November 2002's Film Reviews". Animation World Network. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Burke, Anne (July 14, 2006). "Monster Man". UCLA Magazine. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  4. ↑ Pfefferman, Naomi (February 22, 2007). "Scary ‘Monster House’ comes direct from the basement". Jewish Journal. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Murray, Chris (August 7, 2006). "Gil Kenan: on Monster House, Robert Zemeckis & His Big Break". PopcornTaxi. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  6. ↑ Baisley, Sarah (January 23, 2007). "Cars, Happy Feet and Monster House Vie for Best Animated Oscar". Animation World Network. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Wolff, Ellen (October 10, 2008). "Director Kenan Shines a Light on 'City of Ember'". Animation World Network. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  8. ↑ "City of Ember (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  9. ↑ "City of Ember (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  10. ↑ Fleming, Mike (March 6, 2013). "‘Monster House’s Gil Kenan Finds New Haunt: He’ll Helm MGM ‘Poltergeist’ Remake". Deadline. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  11. ↑ Kroll, Justin (October 17, 2011). "New LaBeouf project gets Lava flowing". Variety. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  12. ↑ Roberts, David (July 28, 2015). "Poltergeist remake director to helm Five Nights at Freddy's flick". GamesRadar. Retrieved July 28, 2015.

External links

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