Gil Kenan

Early life

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

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.

Career

The first public screening of The Lark caught the attention of Jordan Bealmear, who was an assistant at Creative Artists Agency. 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,

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. Produced by Tom Hanks, 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, 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. After the film's success, he and Reitman signed an overall deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to develop more projects. 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.

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.

Personal life

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

Filmography

Short film

Feature film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. (February 23, 2007). "Scary 'Monster House' comes direct from the basement".
2. Kaminer, Amir. (August 9, 2006). "Israeli producer in US tunes in to voices from home". Ynetnews.
3. Awalt, Steven. (September 27, 2021). "Into the 'Monster House'".
4. Furniss, Maureen. (November 27, 2002). "Fresh from the Festivals: November 2002's Film Reviews". Animation World Network.
5. Pfefferman, Naomi. (February 22, 2007). "Scary 'Monster House' comes direct from the basement". Jewish Journal.
6. Murray, Chris. (August 7, 2006). "Gil Kenan: on Monster House, Robert Zemeckis & His Big Break". PopcornTaxi.
7. Baisley, Sarah. (January 23, 2007). "Cars, Happy Feet and Monster House Vie for Best Animated Oscar". Animation World Network.
8. Wolff, Ellen. (October 10, 2008). "Director Kenan Shines a Light on 'City of Ember'". Animation World Network.
9. "City of Ember (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes.
10. "City of Ember (2008)". Box Office Mojo.
11. (July 28, 2015). "Five Nights at Freddy's". Deadline.
12. (January 25, 2019). "'Morbius' & 'Ghostbusters' Solidify Summer 2020 Release Dates". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
13. Vlessing, Etan. (2021-11-29). "Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan Ink Sony Pictures Overall Deal".
14. Kroll, Justin. (December 5, 2022). "'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' Sequel Taps Gil Kenan To Direct With Previous Cast Returning".
15. Lopez, Kristen. (July 28, 2023). "Sony Pushes 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' Sequel to Easter 2024".
16. Daly, Steve. (July 26, 2006). "House Beautiful". Entertainment Weekly.
17. Burke, Anne. (July 14, 2006). "Monster Man". UCLA Magazine.
18. Encinias, Joshua. (March 26, 2024). "Watch: 'Ghostbusters' puts Coney Island on ice".
19. "34th Annual Annie Awards". [[Annie Awards]].
20. Jones, Marcus. (2024-10-17). "Joan Chen, 'Saturday Night' Stars, and More Join Lineup of Denver Film Festival 2024 Award Winners".
21. Pond, Steve. (November 25, 2024). "'Wicked' Leads Nominations for Astra Film Awards".
22. (2024-12-07). "The 2024 St. Louis Film Critics Association (StLFCA) Nominations".