Donnie Darko Writer Was inspired By James Cameron To Work On A Sequel
Richard Kelly, writer and director of the 2001 cult-classic Donnie Darko, says he’s been working on a script for a proper sequel after being inspired by James Cameron. Donnie Darko was followed up in 2009 with S. Darko, a spinoff story following Donnie’s sister that had no creative input from Kelly. S. Darko was critically panned and has generally been rejected by fans of the original, but it sounds like a proper sequel from Kelly could happen in the future.
Donnie Darko is, to put it mildly, an odd movie. Part horror/thriller, part coming-of-age, it’s a film about the end of the world, time travel, and being a sad teenager. The movie features breakout performances from Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal and is perhaps best remembered for the iconic bunny/skeleton/demon man Frank and Gary Jules somber piano cover of Tears for Fears’s “Mad World.” Over time, Donnie Darko has become a staple for fans of science fiction, horror, or weird movies in general.
After the disappointment of S. Darko in 2009, there might be hope for a proper Donnie Darko sequel, thanks in part to another major filmmaker. In a new interview with The Playlist, Richard Kelly said he’s been doing a “significant amount of writing” on a new successor script after being prompted by fellow director James Cameron. Apparently, Cameron expressed interest to Kelly in learning more about the Donnie Darko universe, prompting him to consider picking the story back up. Kelly's full quote can be read below:
“I started explaining it all to him and he pointed at me and said, ‘You should keep working on that.' It made me think there was really something big, something epic that could be done. So that’s what I’ve been focusing on.”
For fans of the original film, that should be incredibly exciting news. The ending of Donnie Darko might make a direct sequel difficult, but there’s plenty of time travel lore and doomsday messaging packed into the original film to create a satisfying spiritual successor at the very least. The movie’s own complex plot structure means that nearly anything could be narratively possible, even a return from Jake Gyllenhaal as the eponymous Donnie.
Kelly’s plans for “something big, something epic” suggest a much bigger required budget than the original film’s $4.5 million, but that hopefully wouldn't be too much of an obstacle given Hollywood’s ongoing sequel fixations and the continued popularity of Donnie Darko. And while a James Cameron blessing doesn’t guarantee success, it certainly seems like a good sign. Donnie Darko has been incredibly influential in the horror/thriller space over the past two decades, inspiring numerous such films that have gone on to great success. After all that time, it would be fascinating to see what a Richard Kelly-led Donnie Darko sequel would look like.
Source: The Playlist
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