It’s no surprise that Seattle was chosen, in “Donnie Darko” director Richard Kelly’s words, as “the guinea pig city, the test,” for the world premiere of the new director’s cut of the film (which had a sold-out SIFF screening before opening in June). Both SIFF, and Seattle, have a history of “saving” films that might otherwise have died on the vine; “Repo Man” and “The Witches” are just a couple of examples of films that would’ve been shuttled straight to video if not for their successful SIFF screenings.
Accordingly, all the stops are pulled out for this relaunch, with director Kelly, and Mary McDonnell and Jena Malone (as Rose, Donnie’s mom, and Gretchen, Donnie’s girlfriend, respectively) flown in to town for a hectic few hours of interviews, followed by a press conference where the film’s executive producer, Drew Barrymore, will grace us with her presence. Such is the demand for interviews that Kelly, McDonnell, and Malone are pulled in and out to speak with other journos as Karla and I conduct our joint interview. Being professionals, the repeated disruptions don’t throw us, and our time with the Donnie Darkos resulted in one of our best interview experiences ever.
My ice-breaker is that I found a “Which ‘Donnie Darko’ Character Are You?” quiz online, and I turned out to be… Donnie Darko. “Really? I ended up being Frank or something!” says Kelly, referring to the film’s scary rabbit/sinister force (“Well, we knew that!” laughs McDonnell). Unsurprisingly, as the strong grassroots fan response led to the film’s re-release, Kelly enjoys checking out the “Darko” activity online. “I think it’s crazy, it’s great,” he says. “For some reason, the movie’s touched a nerve, and people seem to want to talk about it with their friends, they want to really debate the meaning of the film. And with the director’s cut, I’ve tried to provide some new clues to the puzzle, tried to create an alternate version. And it doesn’t destroy or discount the theatrical cut, because I think two versions can exist. There’s always been more than one version of some of my favorite films, like the ‘Close Encounters’ special edition, and Terry Gilliam’s extended cut of ‘Brazil.’”
If Reagan had died during our “Donnie Darko” weekend, that would surely have added another level to our discussion; the film is set in the ‘80s, after all, the decade when the Great Communicator was busy blathering on about America being a shining city on the hill, and Kelly himself says the jet engine that drops on the Darko household at the film’s beginning represents “the death knell of the Reagan years.” Most of the “Darko” discussion focuses on the film’s time travel and “otherworldly” aspects, overlooking the political subtext; why, during a time of such affluence, was there such discontent in the very setting (“Darko”’s suburbia) enjoying the fruits of that affluence?
For Kelly, setting the film in 1988 was essential in providing the film’s context. “I was 14 in 1988 and I didn’t know how to tell the story in a contemporary setting and have it be valid,” he says. “And I thought it would have more impact as a period piece. I think recent history should be examined. We should be examining… why we went to Iraq, examining the immediate past. I got laughed at originally when I was pitching the movie; ‘Why is it set in 1988? It’s not necessary. Just make it contemporary.’ And I was like, ‘It must be ’88!’ For some reason, that’s the only way I could tell the story and make it be relevant.”
For Malone and McDonnell, “Donnie Darko” wasn’t just a compelling script, it also dared to give the female characters some actual complexity. “For me, right now there’s basically two market places where I fit in; youth and female sexuality,” says Malone. “I’ve found a lot of scripts use those forms of manipulation to tell their stories or create their characters—showing really heightened forms of youth and adolescence, very formulaic stuff, or being about a woman’s sexuality, either manipulating that or exposing that, and not really showing a lot of truths, because that doesn’t really sell as much as people like to think it does. Or you get the good scripts that are interesting, and you’re just the daughter and you have like three lines, and it’s just a plot point, being the daughter, the best friend, the girlfriend, where they don’t really live beyond that stereotype of that one classification. So when I first read ‘Donnie Darko,’ I was just like ‘Oh my God, I’ll play anything!’”
McDonnell agrees. “The parents in this [film] I really appreciated, because the stereotypical middle-aged mom is a nightmare to play,” she says. “Looking for a mother character in the suburbs who actually has a life, and is a person, is an unsuccessful journey, mostly. But Kelly understood Rose; it was really wonderful to have a young man’s perspective on her.”
“There was a lot more that I wasn’t able to accomplish under two hours [in the theatrical cut],” says Kelly. “So being given the opportunity to do this director’s cut, it’s a thrill for me.” And a thrill for the viewer to revisit a film that reveals more with each viewing.
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