DONNIE DARKO 2001
Richard Kelly remembers the creation of his hare-raising cult classic
WHILE 28 DAYS (plus six hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds) may have led to the apocalypse for enigmatic loner Donnie Darko, for filmmaker Richard Kelly — who shot his debut film about said loner in the same timeframe — 28 days would lead to the beginning of a cult phenomenon.
It all came about because of boredom. “I was working at a production facility making cappuccinos and cheese plates,” Kelly remembers. “I was like, ‘Okay, I have to focus my energy on writing a screenplay.’ Then I remembered a story from Virginia — my hometown — about an icicle falling from a plane and smashing into a teenage boy’s bedroom while he was out.”
Tying the extraordinary news story into a Reagan-era suburban mystery, Kelly, then in his early twenties, polished off the script in a month. “I took it all over town and there was interest, but everyone thought I was too young to direct it,” he says. “I was stubborn, so I refused to sell it. Everyone thought I was crazy.”
Hope came in the form of Drew Barrymore, who was given the script by fellow actor Jason Schwartzman. “She wanted to meet me, so I visited her on the set of the first Charlie’s Angels,” Kelly remembers. Barrymore agreed to play Donnie’s English professor on the condition that her production company helm the film, giving it the crucial kick-start that it needed. Schwartzman was intended for the lead, but scheduling conflicts meant that the film needed a new hero. Enter Jake Gyllenhaal.
“I’d seen Jake in this Disney movie, October Sky, and
I had this intuition that he would be right for the part,” Kelly says. His nose for the star proved spot-on, as did his decision to commission a cover of Tears For Fears’ ‘Mad World’ for the soundtrack. Like the script, it was hastily created. “The whole thing was recorded in a few hours,” says Kelly of the song, put together by composer Michael Andrews and his friend Gary Jules. “The lyrics, the energy and the emotion of it... it just felt right.”
The song became a surprise Christmas number one, not bad for a track from a film featuring a creepy metal-faced rabbit named Frank. And to this day Donnie Darko endures. Kelly, who still regularly receives fan art of Frank, is stoked that it’s still so close to many people’s hearts. “On its initial release the film was a flop,” he says. “And yet here we are, talking about it all these years later. Don’t be discouraged by rejection.” And never bet against a bunny.