Enda McCallion is an in-demand commercials director whose latest work is the high-profile Ryder Cup advert. Aidan Beatty talks to him about his move into feature films.

Aidan: Could you tell me a little about your background?

Enda: Well, I was born in Co. Donegal in 1967. I went to Dún Laoghaire [College of Art, now IADT] to do my first degree; that was specifically in film. Then immediately after that I went to London and did my masters degree in film direction, and I suppose I was lucky enough after that. I made a couple of short films there and people really got into them and advertising agencies came to me and said 'listen we'd like you to make some ads for us'. I was kinda going 'Well what kind of ads?' You know, 'how do you make an ad?' But I went off and started working. I did a huge amount of work in my twenties and now I'm in my thirties. I did a lot of work out of Paris and a lot of work out of London and the US. I just didn't stop shooting.

And having made your name making adverts and music videos, which I suppose tend to be more visual than dramatic, how do you make that switch to directing drama?

Well, it's a question that's always asked, you know, how can someone like me direct an actor? But you just have to look at the best movies being made in Hollywood right now and I would safely say 85% of them are being shot and directed by ex-commercials directors. Like you have Gore Verbinski, he's done the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. David Fincher, he's just done Zodiac. Marcus Nispel who did the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and is just finishing his second film up in Vancouver. You've got Junebug, which is directed by Phil Morrison, a friend of mine. The studios are really hot on to commercials directors. I tend to have a high visual quality to my work so it's very easy for me to get in the door, more so than a guy who shoots close-ups of syrup falling on a waffle. It tends to be very dramatic, almost like a mini-film. They want something that looks like a film.

So would you regard yourself as being more of a visual director than a dramatic director?

Yeah, I'm a big visual guy and I also very often find myself in the world of CGI. I do a lot of CGI and post-production in my work. But sometimes I'll go off and do simplistic comedy stuff as well.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 111.