COMIC-CON: DONNIE DARKO DIRECTOR'S CUT discussion

By: Patick Sauriol with Den Shewman
Date: Friday, July 23, 2004

Thursday at the San Diego Comic Convention a panel was held to focus on Richard Kelly's DONNIE DARKO: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT, in limited release in theaters as of today. Attending the panel was Kelly, the film'd director/writer, producer Sean McKittrick and actors Stuart Stone (Ronald Fisher) and James Duval (Frank the Bunny.)

Kelly spoke about the changes incorporated into the DIRECTOR'S CUT which adds on 20 minutes of new material, new visual effects and additional music. While the first-time filmmaker had considered the possibility of a director's cut "ten years down the road," he told the crowd that he never in his wildest imaginations envisioned Newmarket Films wanting to re-release an expanded version of DARKO into theaters.

Kelly got interested in directing after seeing the "Jamie's Got a Gun" Aerosmith video. He called MTV to ask who was behind the video he saw and got his answer: a young filmmaker named David Fincher, a guy who got his career started by directing music videos in the late 1980s and early 90s. Kelly began reading up on Fincher and then learned that his first film was ALIEN 3, which excited him, since the ALIEN movies were some of his favorites.

Ever since first watching Kelly's bizarre tale of teen frustration, time travel theory and creepy man-sized bunnies that foretell prophecies about the end of the world, fans of DONNIE DARKO have been wondering what the filmmaker intended the ultimate solution to the film to be. "What does it mean?" mused Kelly at the panel. "What does to you? I don't think there's one conclusion. The director's cut has a more logical design to the story, but there is no definitive conclusion."


Kelly also stated that the DONNIE DARKO DIRECTOR'S CUT DVD will be a two-disc set with new extra features including an extensive "video production diary." Currently the director is prepping his second feature, SOUTHLAND TALES, to begin shooting this coming September.

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