"My head's going to explode unless I direct another film soon," says "Donnie Darko" director Richard Kelly.
"It's been three years and it's driving me crazy. I have four scripts ready to go. Unfortunately, the cheapest are in the low $20 million range. Some of them are bigger than that.
And when your first film grosses $500,000 in the box office and every sentence that's written about the film in print has the words 'box office bomb' on it, financial investors and studios say no, because the numbers don't lie. They don't pay attention to the fact that 'Donnie Darko' made $10 million in DVD distribution."
Richard Kelly (glasses) needs to avoid an impending explosion
While the 29 year old Kelly might not be receiving the credit he's due from financiers and Hollywood, he's certainly getting that credit from his colleagues at New Market.
The distributor is doing a limited release this month of "Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut," an extended version of a film that, despite a piss-poor performance at the box office, continues to draw throngs of rabidly enthusiastic supporters at late-night screenings and through sales on DVD.
"Donnie Darko" is a mind-bogglingly original, highly seditious, generation-defining type of film. Concerning the troubles of young, powerfully disturbed and heavily medicated high school kid who regularly converses with a seemingly evil 6 foot tall rabbit, the film tackles 80's era politics, time travel, suburban angst and the necessary evils of destruction in one masterfully designed package.
The film launched the careers of the Jake and Maggie Gylenhall, as well as Jenna Malone, and made a star of then 26 year-old Kelly, who got the project (his first out of film school) off the ground largely due to the vocal support of Drew Barrymore.
As funny as it is disturbing, spot-on satirical as it is formally inventive, the film is essential viewing material.
|
 |
In Chicago, "Donnie Darko" played off and on at the Gene Siskel Film Center for close to two years. The Pioneer Theater in New York screened the film for no less than 28 months, solidifying its status locally as a bona fide cult classic.
The film has also spawned an extensive online fan community, with sites examining everything from plot points and time travel theory to which character from the movie fans most resemble.
While Kelly admits he's proud of the film's cultish fan base, he's also wary of what that means.
"The trouble with a cult movie is when does it become mainstream? Is it a numbers thing? You can be selfish about that kind of stuff. Like 'I don't want anybody else wearing that t-shirt' or 'I don't want to be hearing that song on the radio' because it's selling out. You want to keep it to yourself, but anytime the counterculture infiltrates the mainstream, it's a good thing."
Has the director learned anything from his cult?
"That I hate myself even more than I did. No...no...it's very flattering that everybody likes the film so much, but it scares me a little bit because I don't want to ever let it go to my head.
If it boosts my self-esteem that's good, because I've always had low self-esteem, but if it inflated my ego to a certain level, then somebody needs to kick my ass. I have a lot of friends who would never talk to me again if I ended up believing the hype, you know. I can't operate that way at all."
Jake Gyllenhaal, Jenna Malone, and "Frank"
Even with a growing evangelical fanbase, the opportunity to do what Kelly calls an extended remix of "Donnie Darko" is highly unusual for any film and virtually unheard of for a low-grossing indie from a first-time director.
"When I got this chance to do this director's cut, it was like getting away with murder," says Kelly.
"I'm eternally grateful to New Market for giving me the chance to go back and add the new material and sound. I went in with my friends and basically did it for nothing - I feel like it's a great luxury I've been given."
New additions include plot signposts designed to clarify the story, some new songs and CGI’s, additional footage and a drastic revamp of the sound. Fans of the original material might not appreciate the subtle variations, particularly where the changes in the soundtrack are concerned, but ultimately should be pleased with the chance to revisit the film on the big screen closer in form to how it was initially screened at Sundance.
[1] [2]
008: Richard Kelly
|
