Kelsey Egan
Kelsey Egan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 20 March 1983 Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Nationality |
|
| Alma mater | Vassar College |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Organisation | Writers Guild of South Africa[1] |
| Website | kelseyegan |
Kelsey-Colin Kass Egan WGSA (born 20 March 1983) is an American-South African filmmaker, actress, and stunt performer. She founded the Cape Town-based production company Crave Pictures. Her short film Gargoyle (2009) and science fiction film Glasshouse (2021) were nominated for SAFTAs.
Early and personal life
[edit]Egan is from Wisconsin and attended Whitefish Bay High School. She took a course at the British American Drama Academy in London. She double majored in Drama and Neuroscience and Behavior at Vassar College, graduating in 2005. She briefly lived in New York City and Beijing before moving to Johannesburg in 2008.[2][3] She holds dual citizenship.[4][5]
Career
[edit]Filmmaking
[edit]To gain experience in the industry, Egan decided to begin her career working both in front of the camera and on sets behind the scenes. She was a production assistant for the documentary Trumbo (2007) and the films I Am Legend (2007), Stop-Loss (2008), and Deception (2008), and a production coordinator for the films Mr. Bones 2: Back from the Past (2008) and Gugu and Andile (2008) as well as the Sky One series Strike Back (2011). She was a script supervisor for Neill Blomkamp's District 9 (2009).
Egan's first short film Gargoyle, filmed in 2008, was nominated for Best Short Film at the 2010 South African Film and Television Awards.[6] Her other short films include 21th Street (2010), Red Herring (2014), The Bull (2018),[7] and The Fighter (2019).
Egan was a VFX producer for the 2014 adaptation of The Giver and cast assistant on the sets of the films Eye in the Sky (2015) and The Dark Tower (2017). She wrote on seven episodes of the 2018 children's animated series Munki and Trunk as well as on the 2019 M-Net crime thriller miniseries Trackers.
While The Fix was postponed, Egan began collaborating with screenwriter Emma Lungiswa de Wet on a slate of three "grounded" science fiction films for Local Motion Pictures.[8] The first of the slate Glasshouse was written over Zoom during the COVID-19 lockdown and filmed on location in the Eastern Cape in late 2020. The film premiered at the 2021 Fantasia Film Festival, officially marking Egan's feature directorial debut,[9][10] followed by a wide release in 2022. Glasshouse received six nominations at the South African Film and Television Awards that year, including Best Feature Film, winning five of them.
On October 31, 2024 Egan's sci-fi dystopian feature, The Fix was released on Showmax and set for wider international release on November 22. [11] Other projects in development include Outer Edges,[12] and the latter two films in her slate with Lungiswa de Wet.[13][14]
Acting and stunt work
[edit]Egan first did stunt work for Death Race 3: Inferno. She made her television debut in 2012 as a stunt performer in the Channel 4 historical miniseries Labyrinth. She played Nicole Weiss in the 2013 crime film Zulu. For Mad Max: Fury Road, Egan alongside the other stunt performers won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Stunt Ensemble. She was Claire Foy's stunt double in the first season of The Crown on Netflix and Jane de Wet's in the BBC America adaptation of Terry Pratchett's The Watch. She played Honey in the dark comedy film Fried Barry and Siri in the Afrikaans romantic comedy Kaalgat Karel.[15]
Filmography
[edit]Filmmaking
[edit]| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Waiting in Beijing | Assistant | |||
| Homo Sapien | 1AD | Short film | |||
| 2009 | Flat Love | 1AD | Short film | ||
| District 9 | Supervisor | ||||
| Gargoyle | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film | |
| 2010 | Khuthala Bo! | 2UD | Yes | Short film | |
| 2010 | 21th Street | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film |
| 2014 | Red Herring | Yes | Yes | Short film | |
| The Giver | VFX | ||||
| 2018 | The Bull | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film |
| 2019 | The Fighter | Yes | Short film | ||
| 2021 | Glasshouse | Yes | Yes | Feature directorial debut | |
| 2024 | The Fix | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| TBA | Outer Edges | Yes | |||
| I Carry You Always | Yes | Yes | |||
| Untitled third slate film |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–2020 | Munki and Trunk | Yes | 7 episodes | ||
| 2019 | Trackers | Yes | Miniseries; 5 episodes |
| Year | Song | Artist | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "My Baby Don't Love Me No More" | The Death Valley Blues Band | Director, writer, producer |
| 2012 | "Rum Trifle" | Jakkals | Director, writer |
| "Gunuza" | Bongeziwe Mabandla | Editor, producer |
Acting and stunt work
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Making Revolution | Activist | |
| 2005 | Discover Me | Rachel | |
| 2013 | Death Race 3: Inferno | Stunts | |
| Zulu | Nicole Weiss | ||
| 2014 | Red Herring | Rider | Short film |
| 2015 | Destination | Short film | |
| Mad Max: Fury Road | Stunts | ||
| 2016 | Forever (Afrikaans: Vir Altyd) | Cat | |
| 2020 | Fried Barry | Honey | |
| 2021 | Kaalgat Karel | Siri |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Labyrinth | Stunts | Miniseries; 2 episodes |
| 2013 | Kids Rule | Stunts (Tommy Wiebeck) | Television film |
| Striving for Freedom | Stunts (Gräfin Cecilie von Hohenberg) | Television film | |
| 2014 | Shark Week | Lindsay | Episode: "Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine" |
| 2015 | Clan of the Cave Bear | Stunts (Ayla) | Television film |
| 2016 | Of Kings and Prophets | Servant | Episode: "Offerings of Blood" |
| The Crown | Stunts (Elizabeth II) | Episode: "Pride & Joy" | |
| 2020 | Raised by Wolves | Soldier | Episode: "Virtual Faith" |
| Warrior | Mrs. Kellerman | Episode: "Warrior" | |
| 2021 | The Watch | Stunts (Alice Band) | Episode: "Better to Light a Candle" |
| Year | Song | Artist | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | "Lights Out" (ft JungFreud) | PHFAT |
Other credits
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Trumbo | Production assistant | Documentary |
| I Am Legend | |||
| 2008 | Stop-Loss | ||
| Deception | |||
| Mr. Bones 2: Back from the Past | Coordinator | ||
| Gugu and Andile | Production coordinator | Television film | |
| 2011 | Strike Back | Assistant production coordinator | 6 episodes |
| 2015 | Eye in the Sky | Cast assistant | |
| 2017 | The Dark Tower |
References
[edit]- ^ "2015/2016 WGSA Council" (PDF). Writers Guild of South Africa. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
- ^ Africa, Keshia (10 August 2021). "Woman director speaks about the challenges of male-dominate film industry". IOL. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
- ^ "Kelsey Egan". Tongue Twisters. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
- ^ Sorrento, Matthew (21 August 2021). "Inside the Memory Box: Kelsey Egan and Emma Lungiswa De Wet on Glasshouse (Fantasia 2021)". FilmInt. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
- ^ "The Bull". B-Sharp Entertainment. 22 November 2017. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ "SAFTAs Season 4". TVSA. 20 February 2010. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
- ^ "The Bull by Kelsey Egan - Short Narrative Film". Queens Film Festival. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
- ^ Vourlias, Christopher (29 July 2021). "South Africa's Local Motion Inks Three-Pic Pact With SVOD Showmax, Drops Trailer for Fantasia Premiere 'Glasshouse' (EXCLUSIVE)". Deadline. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
- ^ Kermode, Jennie (11 August 2021). "Unforgettable: Kelsey Egan on memory, fairy tales, pandemics and Glasshouse". Eye for Film. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ Paskevich, Hayley (18 August 2021). "FANTASIA 2021 INTERVIEW: 'Glasshouse' – Kelsey Egan". Flipscreened. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ Ntwasa, Thango (1 November 2024). "Halloween meets South Africa on Showmax's 'The Fix'". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
- ^ Bałaga, Marta (21 July 2022). "Spier Films Boards Kelsey Egan's Sci-Fi Thriller 'Outer Edges' Ahead of Frontieres (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ Benson, Tracy (17 February 2022). "Glasshouse: Exclusive interview with filmmaker Kelsey Egan". Pfangirl. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
- ^ Derckson, Daniel (9 February 2022). "Glasshouse – A Dystopian Fairytale Challenging Female-Driven Stories". The Writing Studio. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
- ^ "Kelsey Egan". Film Fatales. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
External links
[edit]- Kelsey Egan at IMDb
- Living people
- 1983 births
- American emigrants to South Africa
- American women film directors
- American women film producers
- Naturalised citizens of South Africa
- People from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
- Science fiction film directors
- South African women film directors
- South African women film producers
- Vassar College alumni
- Women stunt performers