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Gil Kenan

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Gil Kenan
Kenan at the 34th Annie Awards
Born (1976-10-16) October 16, 1976 (age 48)[1]
London, England
Alma materUCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
Occupations
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • producer
Years active2002–present
Spouse
Eliza Chaikin
​
(m. 2005)​
[1]

Gil Kenan (born October 16, 1976)[1] is a British–American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the films Monster House (2006) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), with the former nominated him for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. He has also collaborated with director Jason Reitman in co-writing Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Saturday Night (2024).

Early life

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Kenan was born in London to a Jewish family.[2][3] When Kenan was three, his family immigrated to Tel Aviv, Israel.[2][3] He has one brother.[4] 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.[5][6] For his graduate thesis, he created a 10-minute stop-motion/live-action short film, The Lark.[5][7]

Career

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The first public screening of The Lark caught the attention of Jordan Bealmear, who was an assistant at Creative Artists Agency.[8] 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,[8] Robert Zemeckis offered Kenan the director's chair for his first feature, Monster House (2006).[8] Executive produced by Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg,[8] it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, losing to Happy Feet.[9]

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.[10] Produced by Tom Hanks,[10] it was released in October 2008 to mixed reviews and poor box office results.[11][12] 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,[13] but later withdrew from the project. Kenan also co-wrote and directed the Christmas fantasy film A Boy Called Christmas, and was released on Netflix in 2021. In 2019, Kenan co-wrote a script along with Jason Reitman for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which is a direct sequel to Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, was released in 2021.[14] After the film's success, he and Reitman signed an overall deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to develop more projects.[15] He was later chosen to direct the 2024 film Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, a sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, replacing Reitman, who instead became a producer and was a co-writer of the film with Kenan.[16][17]

Influences

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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.[4]

Personal life

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In 2005, Kenan married Eliza Chaikin, who was an art director on City of Ember.[1][6]

Filmography

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Short film

Year Title Director Writer
2002 The Lark Yes Yes

Feature film

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
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 Executive Also voiced Garraka[18]
Saturday Night No Yes Yes

Television

Year Title Notes
2016 Scream Episode "Village of the Damned"

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Title Result Ref
2006 79th Academy Awards Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Monster House Nominated [9]
34th Annie Awards Directing in an Animated Feature Production Nominated

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Daly, Steve (July 26, 2006). "House Beautiful". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Scary 'Monster House' comes direct from the basement". Jewish Journal. February 23, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Kaminer, Amir (August 9, 2006). "Israeli producer in US tunes in to voices from home". Ynetnews – via www.ynetnews.com.
  4. ^ a b Awalt, Steven (September 27, 2021). "Into the 'Monster House'". Amblin Entertainment. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Furniss, Maureen (November 27, 2002). "Fresh from the Festivals: November 2002's Film Reviews". Animation World Network. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  6. ^ a b Burke, Anne (July 14, 2006). "Monster Man". UCLA Magazine. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  7. ^ Pfefferman, Naomi (February 22, 2007). "Scary 'Monster House' comes direct from the basement". Jewish Journal. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  8. ^ a b c d 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.
  9. ^ a b Baisley, Sarah (January 23, 2007). "Cars, Happy Feet and Monster House Vie for Best Animated Oscar". Animation World Network. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  10. ^ a b Wolff, Ellen (October 10, 2008). "Director Kenan Shines a Light on 'City of Ember'". Animation World Network. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  11. ^ "City of Ember (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  12. ^ "City of Ember (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  13. ^ "Five Nights at Freddy's". Deadline. July 28, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  14. ^ Hipes, Patrick (January 25, 2019). "'Morbius' & 'Ghostbusters' Solidify Summer 2020 Release Dates". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  15. ^ Vlessing, Etan (November 29, 2021). "Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan Ink Sony Pictures Overall Deal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  16. ^ Kroll, Justin (December 5, 2022). "'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' Sequel Taps Gil Kenan To Direct With Previous Cast Returning". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  17. ^ Lopez, Kristen (July 28, 2023). "Sony Pushes 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' Sequel to Easter 2024". TheWrap. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  18. ^ Encinias, Joshua (March 26, 2024). "Watch: 'Ghostbusters' puts Coney Island on ice". Brooklyn Magazine. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
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