Gil Kenan
Kenan at the 34th Annie Awards
Born (1976-10-16) October 16, 1976[1]
London, England
Alma materUCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
Years active2002–present
Spouse
Eliza Chaikin
​
(m. 2005)​
[1]

Gil Kenan (born October 16, 1976)[1] is a British-born American filmmaker. Kenan made his feature directorial debut with the animated horror comedy film Monster House (2006) to critical and commercial success, in which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and has since directed the adventure film City of Ember (2008), the horror film Poltergeist (2015), a remake of the 1982 film, and the Christmas fantasy film A Boy Called Christmas (2021). He also co-wrote Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), the sequel to the first two films in the Ghostbusters franchise, and then directing and co-writing its upcoming sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024).[2]

Early life

Kenan was born in London to a Jewish family.[3][4] When Kenan was three, his family immigrated to Tel Aviv, Israel.[3][4] He has one brother.[5] At age eight, Kenan and his family once again moved to Reseda, Los Angeles.[1]

Kenan studied at the film division of the University of California, Los Angeles where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in animation in 2002.[6][7] For his graduate thesis, he created a 10-minute stop-motion/live-action short film, The Lark.[6][8]

Career

The first public screening of The Lark caught the attention of Jordan Bealmear, who was an assistant at Creative Artists Agency.[9] The agency sent hundreds of copies of Kenan's short in order to interest parties in the film industry and after a few months of interviews,[9] Robert Zemeckis offered Kenan the director's chair for his first feature, Monster House (2006).[9] Executive produced by Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg,[9] it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, losing to Happy Feet.[10]

Kenan followed Monster House with City of Ember, a post-apocalyptic science fiction adventure film based on Jeanne Duprau's 2003 novel of the same name.[11] Produced by Tom Hanks,[11] it was released in October 2008 to mixed reviews and poor box office results.[12][13] Kenan's next film, Poltergeist, a remake of the 1982 Tobe Hooper film of the same name, was released in May 2015. In July of that same year, Kenan signed on to direct and co-write a film adaptation of the popular video game series Five Nights at Freddy's by Scott Cawthon,[14] but later withdrew from the project. In 2019, Kenan co-wrote a script along with Jason Reitman for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which was released in 2021.[15] After the film's success, he and Reitman inked an overall deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to develop more projects.[16] He was later chosen to direct Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, a sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, replacing Reitman, who remained as a producer and co-writer with Kenan, which will release in 2024.[2][17]

Themes, style and influences

Kenan has cited David Lynch, Richard Elfman, Lotte Reiniger, Zbigniew Rybczyński, and Alfred Hitchcock as influences; he once met with Elfman. Among his favorite movies and short films, Kenan has listed Eraserhead, Forbidden Zone and Tango, as all three influenced Kenan's short The Lark. He first became aware of a director's own style while watching Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits and appreciated Gilliam's point of view as well as that of Steven Spielberg in his 1980s films, leading him to respect a film's craft and storytelling.[5]

Personal life

In 2005, Kenan married Eliza Chaikin, who was an art director on City of Ember.[1][7]

Filmography

Films

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
2002 The Lark Yes Yes No Short film
2006 Monster House Yes No No
2008 City of Ember Yes No No
2015 Poltergeist Yes No No
2021 Ghostbusters: Afterlife No Yes Executive
A Boy Called Christmas Yes Yes No
2024 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Yes Yes No Post-production

Television

Year Title Director Notes
2016 Scream Yes Directed episode "Village of the Damned"

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Daly, Steve (July 26, 2006). "House Beautiful". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  2. 1 2 Kroll, Justin (December 5, 2022). "'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' Sequel Taps Gil Kenan To Direct With Previous Cast Returning". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Scary 'Monster House' comes direct from the basement". Jewish Journal. February 23, 2007.
  4. 1 2 Kaminer, Amir (August 9, 2006). "Israeli producer in US tunes in to voices from home". Ynetnews – via www.ynetnews.com.
  5. 1 2 Awalt, Steven (September 27, 2021). "Into the 'Monster House'". Amblin Entertainment. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Furniss, Maureen (November 27, 2002). "Fresh from the Festivals: November 2002's Film Reviews". Animation World Network. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Burke, Anne (July 14, 2006). "Monster Man". UCLA Magazine. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  8. ↑ Pfefferman, Naomi (February 22, 2007). "Scary 'Monster House' comes direct from the basement". Jewish Journal. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Murray, Chris (August 7, 2006). "Gil Kenan: on Monster House, Robert Zemeckis & His Big Break". PopcornTaxi. Archived from the original on February 8, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  10. ↑ Baisley, Sarah (January 23, 2007). "Cars, Happy Feet and Monster House Vie for Best Animated Oscar". Animation World Network. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  11. 1 2 Wolff, Ellen (October 10, 2008). "Director Kenan Shines a Light on 'City of Ember'". Animation World Network. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  12. ↑ "City of Ember (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  13. ↑ "City of Ember (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Five Nights at Freddy's". Deadline. July 28, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  15. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (January 25, 2019). "'Morbius' & 'Ghostbusters' Solidify Summer 2020 Release Dates". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  16. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (November 29, 2021). "Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan Ink Sony Pictures Overall Deal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  17. ↑ Lopez, Kristen (July 28, 2023). "Sony Pushes 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' Sequel to Easter 2024". TheWrap. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
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