DONNIE DARKO
BUNNY PECULIAR
THE HEAD-SPINNING BLEND OF HIGH SCHOOL MOVIE AND TEMPORAL PARADOX THAT IS CULT CLASSIC DONNIE DARKO MARKS ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR. WE HAVE A FRANK CONVERSATION ABOUT IT WITH DIRECTOR RICHARD KELLY
WORDS: IAN BERRIMAN
ART BY LUKE PREECE, COURTESY OF ARROW VIDEO
BOY MEETS GIRL – IT’S AN EVERYDAY story. Except when boy meets girl in a Tangent Universe created by a rupture in the space-time continuum, due to boy sleepwalking as a jet engine falls on his bedroom, setting girl on the path to being run over by a car driven by a guy dressed as a demonic rabbit. Then boy must set the universe back on track, sacrificing himself to save girl – and the world.
Twenty years have passed since Richard Kelly’s mix of mind-bending sci-fi and high school slice of life debuted at Sundance, and the film continues to fascinate (and confound) audiences. It’s an achievement even more remarkable when you consider that the first-time director was a callow 25-year-old when the cameras rolled. “I was very young,” Kelly tells SFX, seemingly scarcely able to believe it himself, “And god, the world was so different. I was just out of college, I’d gotten this incredible opportunity, and it was a life-changing experience. But it’s an ongoing experience!”
David Fincher is responsible, to a degree: his video for Aerosmith’s “Janie’s Got A Gun” inspired the 14-year-old Kelly to become a filmmaker (he called up MTV to ask who made it!). But the specific spark was a newspaper article about an occurrence in Kelly’s home state, Virginia.
“A large piece of ice fell off the wing of a jet plane and smashed into a house somewhere near where I grew up, into the bedroom of a teenage kid,” he recalls. “He wasn’t in his bedroom, but it damaged it. I remember reading about the story, and it always stuck with me how disturbing that might have been for that boy. It must have felt like, ‘Is that some kind of warning?’ What was the psychological impact of that event on that teenage boy?”
The 25-yearold Kelly: no pressure, mate.
This opening scene was the first thing to be filmed.
James Duval was inside the costume throughout.
TRIVIA
Before Patrick Swayze was cast as inspirational speaker Jim Cunningham, Kelly met with David Hasselhoff to discuss the role. The “Cunning Vision” videos were shot at Swayze’s ranch. He wore his own ’80s threads.
When Donnie and his pals shoot bottles and discuss the Smurfs, the plan was to shoot a Smurfette doll. Kelly and co cleared this with Smurfs creator Peyo’s people… but then they couldn’t find a doll.
The Sparklemotion dance routine was choreographed and shot to Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls”. But the asking price for usage was $100,000, so they went with Duran Duran’s “Notorious” instead.
The “liquid spears” Donnie sees projecting from people’s chests were inspired by American football commentator John Madden’s use of a telestrator to draw lines on the screen showing players’ movements.