NEWS: "Darko" Director's Next Film

CULTURE: "Darko" Director's Next Film

Richard Kelly has been interviewed about his next project,Southland Tales. He plans to begin production of the "comedy" sometime this summer. The film includes Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, Jason Lee, and director Kevin Smith.

Southland Tales will follow the re-release of an extended, director's cut of Kelly's first film, Donnie Darko.

Slashes = moody rainstorm?


I am so terrified about the idea of Richard Kelly doing a comedy it hurts.

I think this was brought up a long time ago as well.

Interesting idea. Hoping it works out.

Into The Great Wide Open?????

Hello??.....

I hope this means Kevin Smith will be getting himself out the rut he's been in the past few films...


regardless, I'm looking forward to it (but not the fact that I'm going to have to buy another version of donnie darko in the future... damn it).

heh hey, any more of Donnie Darko they have to show...I'll gladly pay for..that movie is seriously good. Can't say enough about it, even though I've seen it a bagillion times over the last few years. I'm just glad that we'll get to see it in the theaters!! That's gonna be rad

any comedy with Jason Lee has great potential.... so I can't wait for this

With SMG and Jason Lee in it, I'm there...

Okay, I guess there's a reason why "comedy" was in quotes. Check out the website, this doesn't look TOO comedic.

Donnie Darko was one of the greatest movies evar




Kevin Smith for president!!

So from what I've heard...

Sarah Michelle Gellar is playing a porn star
SNL's Cheri Oteri is playing "a villainous lesbian bodybuilder"

and Sean William Scott and the Rock are in it too...

hmmm...I guess we will have to wait and see...

i cannot wait for this. from what i've read/gathered so far this seems like one of the most ambitious and original production put forth in awile.

Funny that this should come up tonight I was just watching some Darko special features on the Director's Cut special ed.. I am still going through this huge process of trying to understad what the big deal with Darko was. The more I watch it the less it seems to mean. And I can hear other people's reasons for loving this aspect of it or that aspect of it but when you add it all up it doesn't seem to get past the vague mood of benevolence stage.

People keep saying 'this was amazing' but they never say why. Unless they're going on about identifying with Donnie. I didn't identify with Donnie because I'm not particularly existential in my world view. But people who do, which comprises the entire fanbase seemingly, also point to the soundtrack, or the symbolism, or the themes. I'm not arguing that these things are non-existent or imagined. I can see them, I can sympathise with them. Not only that I read the whole text of "The Philosophy of Time Travel" gleaned from the Net. I get the film. But I can't really see why they should have inspired this cult any more than a dozen other less well regarded and sometimes utterly forgotten films.

So maybe this next piece of the puzzle will give me some answers...

[Edited on Aug 31, 2005 by fpkk]

Yeah, i'm with you on all of this. i was not a big fan of the donnie darko movie, but it did have an uncomfortable vibe that i was kindof into. to compare and contrast, there was a very small movie out last year called 'primer' that explored the same time travel mindfuck themes. it was IMO a crap film because although it had really interesting plot twists, it failed to establish any kind of mood or depth. the Donnie Darko, on the other hand, has a ton of mood but lacks any kind of resolution or purpose. I totally failed to notice- even after repeated viewings- any of the teen-angst-underdog-punk-rock-badass-artsy appeal that a ton of people assigned to it. however, like i said, im very interested in seeing how this guy handles a (hopefully) more complex project.

This is pretty much the only movie I'm looking forward to right now.


re Darko: it's a great movie, but it's one of those films where people expect more from it than they should, and then marginalize it as an emo epic when they feel like they don't get it.

Not to be harsh but that's not what I was saying.

I don't think it's a bad movie per se, although I do have issues with any movie where support materials are *required* to get the most out of it. People hammered The Matrix because you couldn't really pick up on any of the half-baked philosophical references if you didn't read a lot of theological, existential and scientific philosophy. In The Matrix (as a trilogy) this weakened a weak film even further. In Darko it does allow for a wide degree of interpretation from a viewer but I still view it as a weakness.

If I were going to compare DD to anything I'd choose a film like Johnny Suede which was equally weird in the same sort of ways (and required no further reading!) but which you can't get for love nor money any more. People ignored it and I love it. I admit it's not a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination but it's the early 90s equivalent to DD.

So the puzzle continues (for me at least) as to why this fairly mediocre (but interesting) movie should be so lauded when films with a similar agenda and execution are ignored.

They're not though. Whether or not the director's cut was ever made, people loved the original film all by itself. It (the film) doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense, but neither does Mullholland Drive, and people have no problem calling it a masterpiece.

The references weren't the point with The Matrix. It didn't matter if you didn't get them because that wasn't essential to the experience of the film. As for Darko, I didn't think the "explaination" explained it much further anyway - the gist is that the film is made from resonant ideas from deep in Richard Kelly's subconsious mind, and make for an effective film.

That's no way to frame it. I don't like The Golden Child as much as Raiders of the Lost Ark because they're both funny action comedies with ancient temples in them. I like Raiders more because I think it's better, and if you like Johnny Suede more it is because you think it's better than DD. It really doesn't bother me that people don't like DD either; I just feel like some people wouldn't if they hadn't gotten hyped up over it.

[Edited on Sep 02, 2005 by Jeff_Fries]

A masterpiece? Even people who like it call it flaky... for the most part.

I still think that Donnie Darko is more about mood than message.

So I guess it all comes down to me liking message.

[Edited on Sep 03, 2005 by fpkk]

i thought donnie darko, for all its confusion, just felt 'right'? anyone agree...?

I think it one of the best films of all time, ever.

could be interesting, fingers crossed..

Kevin needs to step into a new genre

I thought that, if you strip away the sort of self-conscious mysticism around it, it was a fairly standard sci-fi plot; something has happened to alter the space-time continuum in ways it shouldn't be, and that damage must be fixed. Hell, watch the City on the Edge of Forever episode of Star Trek for an example of that.

Donnie Darko = masterpiece
Mullholland Dr. = masterpiece

I probably wouldn't put either one of them even in my top 50 favorite movies, but what they do they do very, very well, in an uncompromising and original fashion.

And for that matter, I had Donnie Darko figured out without all the supplementary material. It was nice to see my interpretation validated after listening to the DVD's director commentary.

Mullholland Dr., though, took some time.