John Paul Kelly's most recent work includes A Haunting in Venice (Disney) starring and directed by Kenneth Branagh. This film is set over one stormy night in a haunted palazzo in Venice and was designed and built as a large studio set in Pinewood Studios. Prior to this JP designed a number of other period feature films, Persuasion for Netflix starring Dakota Johnson, Operation Mincemeat, directed by John Madden and starring Colin Firth and Blithe Spirit starring Judy Dench and Dan Stevens.
JP was born and educated in Ireland before moving to London to complete a BA in Architecture at Kingston University. He then attended the Royal College of Art in London, where he graduated with an MA in Design for Film and Television.
He previously designed Stan & Ollie where his work was nominated for a BIFA. JP also won an Emmy and BAFTA Awards for his work as production designer on writer/director Stephen Poliakoff’s The Lost Prince, which also won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries, among other honours.
The Theory of Everything won the BAFTA for Best British Film amongst many other awards including 8 BAFTA and 5 Oscar nominations and The Art Director's Guild nomination for best production design for a period film. JP's work won him am IFTA for production design for the same film.
His other films as production designer include Working Title's Bridget Jones Baby and Roger Michell’s Blackbird starring Kate Winslet and Susan Sarandon, JP's previous collaborations with Roger include Venus, starring Peter O’Toole and Jodie Whittaker, and Enduring Love, starring Daniel Craig and Rhys Ifans; Richard Curtis’ About Time, also for Working Title Films; John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, for which he received an Irish Film and Television Award (IFTA) nomination; Justin Chadwick’s The Other Boleyn Girl, starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, for which he was also an IFTA nominee; Fernando Meirelles’ 360; Julian Farino’s The Last Yellow; Charles Sturridge’s Lassie; Michael Winterbottom’s Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story; Tim Fywell’s I Capture the Castle; Shane Meadows’ TwentyFourSeven, starring Bob Hoskins; Carine Adler’s Under the Skin, the star-making film for Samantha Morton; and Paul Greengrass’ groundbreaking Bloody Sunday.
JP’s telefilm credits as production designer include Caryl Churchill’s A Number, directed by James Macdonald; and Julian Farino’s Byron, starring Jonny Lee Miller, and Stephen Poliakoff’s Shooting the Past, both of which earned him Royal Television Society Award nominations.