An Irish filmmaker specialising in animation, John Kelly lives and works in Dublin where he is developing a number of projects that explore the line between tragedy and absurdity. His latest animated short, Retirement Plan, plays at SXSW this month. Exploring all the things we’d love to do when we finally have “time”, it’s voiced by Domhnall Gleeson and is a funny reverie on the beauty, curiosities and fears that we wish to embrace when confronted with an escalating awareness of our own finite mortality.
The last thing I saw and loved… Common Side Effects on Channel 4 — a very funny thriller TV series about the pharmaceutical industry.
The book I keep coming back to… my sketchbook. Drawing on paper is the only way I can slow down my gnat brain.
I find inspiration in… my children aged eight and ten. They prevent me from being swallowed whole by my work.
My favourite film is… The Jerk. Navin Johnson is the greatest.
My career highlight is… making this latest short film has been the most rewarding experience of my career. I can’t wait to watch it with a home audience in the Light House.
The song I listen to to get in the zone is… the entire album Therapy by the Brendan Eder Ensemble is lovely to work to, and Woodwinds, recorded at an old church.
The last film I recommended is… I saw Dream Scenario last weekend, where Nicolas Cage starts appearing in people’s dreams all over the world. It’s such a unique idea and a brilliant exploration of unravelling fame.
I never leave the house without… headphones. I listen to music non-stop.
The performance I still think about is… Denise Gough knocked me sideways in People, Places and Things at the Trafalgar Theatre last year.
My dream project to work on would be… a funny and heart-breaking animated film for grown-ups. If anyone with bags of cash is reading this, the script is ready to go!
The best advice I’ve ever gotten… “Sayin’ ain’t doin”, a quote from the movie Rumble Fish, relayed to me by my old boss Aiden Grenelle when I started out as a graphic designer. In filmmaking, there can be a whole load of talking about making things rather than just using that energy to start. Lately, I’ve been trying to ‘start’ more.
The art that means the most to me is… my wife Jenny makes beautiful wall-hung copper candleholders, and ours is the one thing I’d try and rescue (besides the family!) if the house was aflame.
My favourite moment in this film is… there’s a two-second scene towards the end of Retirement Plan where our hero, Ray, has been defeated by a collapsed tent in a wild storm. The line in the script was “camping is awful” but Domhnall ad-libbed “CAMPING IS HORRIBLE”. It’s a small tweak, but it sounds so good coming from him and it makes me chuckle every time.
The most challenging thing about being in film is… not overworking. The boundary between life and making things you love can sometimes be flimsy.
After I wrap on a project, I… do anything I can to avoid catching up on the life and financial admin I’ve been neglecting while on the project.
If I wasn’t a director, I would be… my first love was making comics, so that might be the fallback. Weirdly, 25 years ago, Jane Fonda’s Hollywood producer licensed a teenage comic my brother and I made about a crime-fighting leprechaun. The movie never got greenlit, and cinema (and the world) is generally a better place for it.
The magic of film to me is… the Trojan horse-like capability of films to be simultaneously entertaining and also leave you slightly altered.
Photography courtesy of John Kelly.
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