Imagine coming right out of film school and getting a call from Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, asking you to direct one of their films. Around the same time, you receive a similar call from Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, owners of the production company Playtone. Impossible? Not if you are director Gil Kenan.
Still looking every bit like a recent college graduate, the 31-year-old LA native walks into the conference room at the downtown Four Seasons exuding charisma. “Hey guys!” he says, and proceeds to describe his visit to St. Louis. “Good job with your city. And see this is when you tell me good job with my city,” he jokes, referring to his upcoming movie, “City of Ember.”
Kenan’s interest in films began early in his youth. “I grew up with a dad who had me as a movie buddy. So basically any movie my mom didn’t want to see, I would see with him.” He cited “Tin Drum,” “Flash Gordon” and “The Abyss.” “After seeing ‘The Abyss’ I went straight to my bathroom and tried to make that oxygen gel.” He went to UCLA for film school and graduated in 2002 with no other productions save a nine-minute black-and-white short film called “The Lark.”
Luckily, that short was enough to win him the attention of some extremely famous people in the business. During his meeting with Hanks and Goetzman, it was his enthusiasm that won them over. “I like to talk,” he says. In fact, just a few minutes into our interview, it became clear that if anyone had the eloquence and continuous surge of ideas to win over such Hollywood old-timers, it was Kenan. “I started to talk about the movies I wanted to make, [specifically] a movie in a controlled environment.” Coincidentally, the producers had received a manuscript for the book adaptation, “City of Ember,” and were looking for a director. “I devoured the book in one night and just started drawing.” When he came back and presented his vision of the story to the producers, they were sold. “I shouldn’t have been able to do that,” he said, “to start straight from school with nothing but a $400 short film. I basically just got lucky.”
Meanwhile he picked up a project from Spielberg and Zemeckis. “Monster House,” Kenan’s first full-length feature, tells the adventure of three neighborhood pre-teens as they explore a haunted house that is actually a monster, complete with a uvula and an associated gag reflex. The animation was only the second of its kind to use live motion capture. According to Kenan, starting with an animation helped to ease his way into the movie industry. “I really believe that animation frees up a part of your brain. You are not burdened by the look of reality, [so] on the set, the choices I made were easier.”
His second feature, “City of Ember,” takes audiences to a post-apocalyptic society now thriving in an underground city running solely on electricity. However, as the lights flicker and the generators begin to fail, it is up to Lina (Saoirse Ronan from “Atonement”) and her friend, Doon (Harry Treadaway), to decipher some cryptic papers that may lead to the salvation of their city. As they journey through the city, the pair faces obstacles from self-serving officials as well as help from fellow Ember citizens.
The film is perhaps foremost a visual work of art. Kenan manages to build an entire fictitious culture by drawing inspiration from classic sci-fi films such as “Metropolis” as well as the ’20s futuristic art movements in Italy and Germany. Kenan portrays the city as a living entity, infused with warm organic colors and visual motifs such as red electrical conduits and a generator shaped like a human heart. He had insisted on building the city instead of using a virtual set, an endeavor which took four months to complete.
“Ember” boasts a high-profile cast, including Tim Robbins, Martin Landau and Bill Murray. During filming, Murray even taught his young director how to play golf. Kenan recalls Murray’s unfaltering sense of humor: “I’m sure he goes in to pick up his dry cleaning and people crack up.” Even after two full-length features and an Oscar nomination under his belt, Kenan remains the adoring fan of his Hollywood idols, admitting, “I still geek out every time [I see them].”
What is Kenan’s best advice for hopeful directors? “A graduate program in film is very important. Continuing my education in film allowed me to be where I am today.” As he walks out the door, he is a bundle of charisma, potential and perhaps even some ingenuity. Expect great things in Kenan’s future. “City of Ember” comes out October 10 nationwide.
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