Pages tagged “richard kelly”

[Above: James Marsden and Cameron Diaz in The Box]

For people who just received a box that could grant them $1 million, Arthur and Norma Lewis (James Marsden, Cameron Diaz) sure look a bit worried. That's probably because if they push the box's button, an anonymous person will die somewhere on the planet. And they've got 24 hours to decide. Tension = justified.

You shouldn’t believe everything you read online.  Arcade Fire lead singer Win Butler is annoyed and setting the record straight about Internet news gone awry regarding the band’s involvement with Richard Kelly’s new film.  On Butler’s blog on the band’s website he reports that despite recent statements on the web by Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly and engineer Markus Dravs, Arcade Fire will not be composing the score to Richard Kelly’s sci-fi, horror drama The Box.  

Director Richard Kelly will not, he repeats, will not be involved with the upcoming Donnie Darko sequel in any way, shape or form. Oh, and by the way, the Arcade Fire is scoring his new film The Box.

That’s pretty much been the news swirling around the director in the blogosphere this week. It all began with film studio Velvet Octopus’ announcement last week that a sequel to Kelly’s cult favorite Donnie Darko would begin production May 18. S. Darko will take place seven years after Donnie’s death, and will follow his sister Samantha and her best friend on a road trip to L.A., during which they experience bizarre visions.

Director Chris Fisher (Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders) will helm the film, and actress Daviegh Chase will be reprising her role as Samantha. The cast also includes Ed Westwick (Son of Rambow), Briana Evigan (Step Up 2) and Justin Chatwin (Dragon Ball). Fisher said that while Donnie would not be making an appearance, S. Darko would include meteorites and rabbits.

The studio chose Fisher this time around after Kelly declined any involvement in the project. And “declined” might be putting it modestly. Kelly has gone to great lengths to distance himself from S. Darko. First, a rep from his production company Darko Entertainment told /Film in an e-mail that “Richard, Sean [McKittrick] and every ounce of Darko Entertainment are 150% NOT INVOLVED” in the project.

And if that wasn’t clear enough, Kelly himself contacted the site with the following statement: “To set the record straight, here’s a few facts I’d like to share with you all – I haven’t read this script. I have absolutely no involvement with this production, nor will I ever be involved. I have no control over the rights from our original film, and neither I nor my producing partner Sean McKittrick stand to make any money from this film.”

Also in his correspondence with /Film, Kelly mentioned another piece of news concerning his upcoming film The Box, a thriller starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden that is currently in the editing stage. The director said that he and McKittrick were working with a “very famous band” whose members were in the process of writing their first film score.

Kelly did not reveal the band’s name, but Arcade Fire producer/engineer Markus Dravs seems to have inadvertently leaked the information on his website. Dravs wrote, ".... having finished Coldplay's forthcoming album Viva la Vida - now off to Canada to work with Arcade Fire on a Sound-track for the forth coming Richard Kelly film....." Oops.

Look for The Box to hit theaters later this year.

Related links:
DonnieDarko.com
IMDb: Donnie Darko
Feature: Catching Up With… Richard Kelly

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Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko went from a flop at the box office to cult hit in just a few short years. That feature's eventual success lead him to funding for his next film, Southland Tales, about an energy-cartel conspiracy that's causing the end of the world.

Release Date: Nov. 14
Director/Writer: Richard Kelly
Cinematographer: Steven B. Poster
Starring: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sean William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar
Studio/Run Time: Samuel Goldwyn Films, 144 mins.

Six years ago, Donnie Darko premiered to a massive audience of no one. While a few critics championed the film, just as many seemed unaware of its existence. Three years later, and the film is a cult classic, considered one of the strongest debut efforts in memory. Suddenly a studio gives Richard Kelly the money to make another film and production starts, anticipation only mounting when it’s chosen for competition in Cannes 2006.

Then came the backlash, as critics ripped on the film’s 160 minute early cut. Southland Tales was found to be a mess; no one was able to grasp what it was even attempting to do and half of its audience walked out of the theater by the halfway point. The film remained in production limbo for more than a year, despite its setting of July 4, 2008 getting closer by the day. Cut to the present, when critics seem unable to make heads or tales of the film and instead are offering completely polarized views. Which is to say that many are quickly calling it either a complete failure or a masterpiece, without recognizing that it may be a little of both.

To put it simply, Southland Tales is about the end of the world. In the film, a device has been made that is ripping apart the fourth dimension, and what lies beyond it is either salvation or destruction. In either case, there is no going back. Involved in either covering or uncovering this mystery is an amnesiac actor-turned-politician (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), an L.A. police officer and his twin being used by at least one covert agency (Sean William Scott), and a striper/media mogul trying to obtain the fame and fortune she always felt she deserved (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Amidst these characters are more than 20 smaller characters who dip in and out of the main conspiracy plotline, though keeping track of them is more work than it’s worth.

It sounds like a mish-mash of semi-nonsensical character and events because that's exactly what the plot is like. It doesn’t help that Southland Tales is composed of parts IV-VI of a six-part series with the first - and far more clear - half of the story told in comic books. While the film opens with a hasty catch-up of its own backstory, making much sense of this exposition is more of a chore than doing what the film really wants you to do: sit back and enjoy the ride.

In terms of style, few films can match Southland Tales. Kelly’s previous feature managed to look like a big-budget sci-fi film despite being made with only $4.5 million. This time out, the director was given around $20 million, and the result is spectacular, riffing on everything from blockbuster to musical, high-concept hyperlink film to gritty noir. The film’s sounds are made to match, with Radiohead's “Planet Telex” playing one minute and Beethoven’s ninth symphony the next, all of which are held together by Moby. Although this sounds like the film is cribbing from Quentin Tarantino, Southland Tales pulls its chief influences from David Lynch and Paul Verhoeven, with a tone of surreal horror mixed with over-the-top satiric action. Basically, it’s like nothing else out there.

All of these elements point to why the film is also so hard to ingest. Things like character development and a cohesive plot are thrown to the wind in favor of paying heed to cinematic conventions and giving fan service. The effect of this is that each scene in Southland Tales - in fact, nearly every shot - is impressive and exciting while the sum of the parts just doesn’t seem to work.

Somehow though, the result is satisfying, even if it’s only the satisfaction of seeing something truly new. Foreign films are cut some slack when they allow style to overwhelm substance, whether it’s the unrealistic clichés of Breathless or the serpentine fantasies of 2046. Surely the same allowance could be made for Southland Tales, one of the boldest and most ambitious exhibitions of the possibilities of film created in the past decade. Although it’s by any reasonable means a flawed film, Southland Tales demands watching, if only for its cinematic achievements.

View the trailer for Southland Tales below:

Let's preface this trailer with a word of caution: do not expect the images contained within the trailer to make a bit of sense. That being said, now we can proceed:

Now, even though none of that really matched up, wasn't it incredible? From the down-tempo version of "Wave of Mutilation" to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a pimp, there's no frame of that trailer that doesn't scream out to be watched. That it doesn't get any closer to telling anyone what the hell the film's actually about is only important if you think that's still somehow relevant.

Southland Tales is Richard Kelly's follow up to the cult classic Donnie Darko, which premiered at last year's Cannes to wildly mixed reviews. Of course, wildly mixed reviews is just what makes Kelly such an interesting filmmaker and the ambitious feel of even the trailer makes it interesting to follow. From this, things look just as likely to become a contemporary American Weekend as a colossal mess, but at least it would be the prettiest mess in years.

The film is still slated for release on November 9.

Related links:
Paste on the film's production history
Southland Tales' website
The Donnie Darko website

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