A Young Director With Tom Hanks's Seal of Approval

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Five years ago, Gil Kenan was an unknown university student with a video camera; today he is an Oscar-nominated director strolling around one of the largest indoor film sets ever made. And it's his.

"It's amazing. See the height of this thing? The size and height of this thing actually allowed us to build sets that are practical," says Kenan, 31, as he walks underneath a canopy of lights inside a massive shipping hangar.

"City of Ember," Kenan's first live-action film, which opens Friday, tells the story of an underground city lit entirely by a power generator that's starting to fail. As the street lamps flicker and pop, the city begins a descent into darkness.

How to build a city that hails from another world? One of the biggest problems for Kenan and his crew was finding a space big enough.

The crew darted around Europe for months before discovering Belfast's Titanic Quarter, so called because the RMS Titanic was built there along with other ships, conveniently leaving behind hangars that soar 90 feet in the air.

It probably helped that Northern Ireland Screen, the local film commission, offered more than $1 million in funding and waived the rent on the otherwise abandoned hangar in hopes of launching a film industry.

It took five months to build the set in the Paint Hall, a building that spans 64,000 square feet -- there are indoor roads -- and the result is an English village with winding alleys and concrete, 1970s-inspired buildings that tower three stories.

While trailing Kenan on location in Belfast during the filming, it quickly becomes apparent that not only is he one of the youngest people around, he's also the most animated.

At one point, he suddenly falls to the ground.

"I'm really into these," he says on his hands and knees, pointing at the copper manhole covers. He explains that the engravings on the manholes are essentially maps of the city.

"Like, there's the laundromat over there," he says, finding it on the manhole first before dashing over to a gray building stuffed with rusting washing machines. He then shoves an oar into a machine and starts cleaning an imaginary load of laundry while explaining how resourceful the citizens of Ember are, even though supplies are dwindling.

The film is co-produced by Tom Hanks's Playtone Productions and Fox Walden, and was adapted for the screen by Caroline Thompson, who also penned "Edward Scissorhands" and "Corpse Bride." The story follows two teenagers, played by Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement") and Harry Treadaway, as they hunt for clues to unlock the city's mysterious origins and help its citizens escape before it's too late. Along the way, they are thwarted by Bill Murray. The actor plays the mayor of Ember, who hoards food, among other things. The family adventure also stars Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Toby Jones and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.