At this year’s Toronto Film Festival, I was able to land an exclusive interview with Director Gary McKendry for his new action-thriller Killer Elite.  Starring Jason Statham, Robert De Niro, Clive Owen and Yvonne Strahovski, the flick centers on a retired special ops agent (Statham) who is tasked with rescuing his mentor (De Niro).   I caught the film at TIFF and if you’re a fan of Statham and the rest of the cast, it’s definitely worth seeing.  Here’s the trailer.During the interview McKendry talked about being at TIFF, getting the great cast, how the project came together, what it was like to direct De Niro, deleted scenes and what will be on the DVD/Blu-ray, future projects, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.Gary McKendry Time Index

• :13 Talks about the seemingly odd decision to bring the film to the Toronto Film Festival.
• 1:15 Talks about getting Robert De Niro, Clive Owen, and Jason Statham and how they play a bit against type.
• 1:46 How did he get involved with the project?
• 2:56 Talks about how his short and the commercials he’s directed prepared him for the job of directing his first feature.
• 4:29 Working with Robert De Niro. Tells a story about his first day working with the actor.
• 6:03 How much of the film did he pre-vis or storyboard beforehand?
• 7:12 Are there a lot of deleted scenes, and will there be an extended cut of the film on DVD? Talks about a couple of the scenes that were cut.
• 8:46 How much footage was cut that will end up on the DVD? Says about 23-24 minutes.
• 9:38 Has he started taking those meetings for his next project yet?
• 10:51 Talks about other material he wants to turn into future films.
• 12:33 Talks about how people are looking for something different now, with some of the black and white films that are finding audiences.