Justin Kelly
is an American
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
,
screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
and
film editor
Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...
. He came to prominence as director and writer of
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
2015 select ''
I Am Michael'', starring
James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...
and
Zachary Quinto
Zachary John Quinto (; born June 2, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Sylar, the primary antagonist from the science fiction drama series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'' (2006–2010); Spock in the film ''Star Trek ...
.
He then wrote and directed
''King Cobra'', which premiered at the 2016
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
starring
Christian Slater
Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a leading role in '' The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakout role as Jason "J.D." Dean, a sociopath ...
and
James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...
, followed by Sony Pictures 2018 release ''
Welcome the Stranger'' starring
Riley Keough
Danielle Riley Keough ( ; born May 29, 1989) is an American actress. Born into the Presley family, she is the oldest daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and the eldest grandchild of Elvis Presley. She initially started her career as a model from 200 ...
and
Caleb Landry Jones
Caleb Landry Jones (born December 7, 1989) is an American actor and musician, known for his roles as Banshee in '' X-Men: First Class'', Jeremy Armitage in ''Get Out'', and Red Welby in ''Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri''. His accolades ...
, and most recently ''
JT LeRoy'' (2018) starring
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe ...
and
Laura Dern
Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and five Golden Globe Awards.
Born ...
.
Career
After a stream of directing short films as well as directing and editing music videos for artists such as
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling.
Etymology
The word is from Old English ''godsibb'', from ''god (word), god'' and ''sibb'', the term for the ...
,
Hunx and his Punx
Hunx and His Punx is an American punk band from San Francisco, California.
History
Origins
Hunx, real name Seth Bogart, started the band in 2008 after years of performing in the pop group Gravy Train!!!!. The group's sound has been comp ...
and
Tiny Hearts, Kelly worked as an editor before making the transition to feature film writer-director. Under the wing of film legend
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician. He has earned acclaim as an independent film, independent auteur. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures.
His ...
, he began shooting his first feature-length film ''
I Am Michael'' in summer of 2014. Starring actors
James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...
,
Emma Roberts
Emma Rose Roberts (born February 10, 1991) Additional on October 9, 2016 is an American actress, singer and producer. Known for her performances spanning multiple genres of film and television, her work in the horror film, horror and thriller ...
,
Zachary Quinto
Zachary John Quinto (; born June 2, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Sylar, the primary antagonist from the science fiction drama series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'' (2006–2010); Spock in the film ''Star Trek ...
and
Charlie Carver
Charles Carver Martensen (born July 31, 1988) is an American actor. His better known roles include Porter Scavo on the ABC television series ''Desperate Housewives'' (2008–2012), Ethan on the MTV television series ''Teen Wolf'' (2013–2014, ...
, the controversial film's premiere was announced as a premiere select at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
It was released theatrically January 27, 2017.
Kelly's second feature-length film, ''
King Cobra
The king cobra (''Ophiophagus hannah'') is a species complex of snakes Endemism, endemic to Asia. With an average of and a record length of , it is the world's longest venomous snake and among the heaviest. Under the genus ''Ophiophagus'', i ...
'', starring
James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...
and
Christian Slater
Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a leading role in '' The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakout role as Jason "J.D." Dean, a sociopath ...
, shot in the fall of 2015 and premiered at the 2016
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
. It was released theatrically via IFC Films on October 21, 2016. His third film ''
Welcome the Stranger'' starring
Abbey Lee
Abbey Lee Kershaw (born 12 June 1987) is an Australian model, actress and musician. Following several years of success leading up to the 2011 fashion seasons, '' V'' magazine dubbed her a supermodel, and Models.com has listed her as an "Indust ...
,
Riley Keough
Danielle Riley Keough ( ; born May 29, 1989) is an American actress. Born into the Presley family, she is the oldest daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and the eldest grandchild of Elvis Presley. She initially started her career as a model from 200 ...
and
Caleb Landry Jones
Caleb Landry Jones (born December 7, 1989) is an American actor and musician, known for his roles as Banshee in '' X-Men: First Class'', Jeremy Armitage in ''Get Out'', and Red Welby in ''Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri''. His accolades ...
, shot in the summer of 2016 and was released via Sony Pictures on March 13, 2018. Kelly's fourth feature-length film, ''
JT LeRoy'', based on the lives of
Savannah Knoop and
Laura Albert
Laura Victoria Albert (born November 2, 1965) is an American author who invented the literary persona JT LeRoy, whom Albert described as an "avatar." She published various works of purportedly autobiographical fiction under the LeRoy name be ...
, a.k.a.
JT LeRoy, and starring
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe ...
and
Laura Dern
Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and five Golden Globe Awards.
Born ...
, had its world premiere as the closing night film of the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released April 26, 2019, by Universal Pictures.
Filmography
Short film
Music video
Feature film
References
External links
*
American music video directors
Living people
Film directors from Los Angeles
Year of birth missing (living people)
{{US-film-director-stub