Fresh from the airport, after returning home from shooting some final scenes of his movie in the Moroccan desert, Gary McKendry seemed delighted to be back.

“Driving into Katonah, I was just hit with the beauty of the lush green grass, the flowers and trees in the neighborhoods,” he says.

It has been a busy year-and-a half for the Irish-born filmmaker who lives in Katonah with his wife and two daughters. He is wrapping up his first feature length film that he both directed and co-wrote—an action-thriller that was shot in several countries—entitled “Killer Elite,” starring among others, Jason Statham, Robert DeNiro and Clive Owen.

McKendry grew up in Northern Ireland, earned a degree in design and film in London and went on to become an art and creative director at various advertising agencies and eventually directed hundreds of commercials.

His live-action short film “Everything This Country Must” was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005, an event he considers a stepping stone to making this feature film. McKendry spoke with Patch—in his friendly and cheerful Irish brogue—about his latest project.

Patch: Congratulations on the film. Can you tell us a little bit about Killer Elite?

GM:  Thanks. Well, it is based on a fairly controversial book by Sir Ranulph Fiennes called The Feather Men. It’s a period film, taking place in 1980, and exposes what happens in secret societies—in this case, a group of returning British Special Forces who come home after having killed the sons of an Arab sheik in Oman. They are the targets of a “blood for blood” revenge edict and become involved in an intricately woven plot where good guys and bad guys become one in the same. “A war is not over until both sides say it is,” is a quote from the original book that struck me—it really appealed to me as a way to understand the experiences of soldiers when they return home. Having grown up in Belfast, I understood that fighting secret wars is all too much of a reality.

Patch:  The ensemble cast has some very big stars, what was that like?

GM:  Honestly, it was phenomenal. I mean, from Jason Statham, who was a great partner and who really, really had an amazing feel for the script from the beginning of the project, to Clive Owen who was unbelievable and is such a huge star, to the one- and-only Robert DiNiro. I am standing in a desert in Morocco and these guys are standing out there ready to do the shoot, a hundred and fifteen people are behind me and the lonely thought hits me—I better not screw this up!

Patch:  Can we hear a personal DeNiro story?

GM:   It was kind of funny actually, that I could not let him shave his beard. He had to remain scruffy for his part in the film. So while he judged films at Cannes, it was my fault indeed, that he showed up looking the way he did.

Patch:  Who are some of your personal favorite film directors?

GM:  I love Akira Kurosawa, Michael Mann and Ridley Scott. I admire when a director can immerse themselves so deeply in the material—in whatever genre.

Patch: What does Katonah mean to you?

GM:  This place truly feels like home to me. All the little things make it that way: walking down the street and hearing hellos, getting my head shaved at the local barber shop, strolling in town, the Katonah Museum, buying stones at Bedford Stone to build walls at my home. It’s the small things that make this town so fantastic.

Patch: Killer Elite will be released this fall.  What's next?

GM:  What is pretty exciting is that the film will open on 2,000 screens. I think a lot of people will relate to this subject of “secret societies,” as the movie is a reality-based thriller that is really echoed in the world today. Be it the secret world of oil or the groups that were connected to the financial crisis, the theme resonates.

For my next project, I would like to perhaps do something completely different.

Maybe not a romantic comedy, but I’d like to do a film where people are not brutally killing each other, either.

Patch:  We are looking foward to it.