Gil Kenan is one of the few Hollywood fairytale stories. At the only screening of Kenan’s 2004 UCLA Senior Thesis film The Lark, a young agent spotted the short and sent it to his boss, which soon found its way into the lap of Robert Zemeckis. He loved the film and showed it to his producing partner Steven Spielberg. The animation and the house are as much characters in the film as the couple, which is probably what spurred the two to give Kenan the directing reins on their newest animated feature, Monster House. The movie is awesome and still one of my favorite animated features. Also, the film was written by Community creator, Dan Harmon, which is cool. In 2008, Kenan directed City of Ember, which wasn’t so good. But now, he’s slated to remake Poltergeist next year. That, I am looking forward to. If you need more Gil in your life right now, you can check out VICE’s video interview with him below.—Jeffrey Bowers