Fantasy
Synopsis
An unusual teenager (Jake Gyllenhaal) follows the instructions of the 6-foot-tall rabbit which saved his life.
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, James Duval, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle, Daveigh Chase, Arthur Taxier, Stuart Stone, Alex Greenwald, Joan M. Blair, Fran Kranz, Margaret Kontra Palmer, David St. James, Rachel Winfree
Producer(s): Flower Films, Gaylord Films, Pandora Cinema, Adam Fields Productions
Crew: Director - Richard Kelly, Writer - Richard Kelly, Producer - Sean McKittrick, Producer - Nancy Juvonen, Executive Producer - Hunt Lowry, Executive Producer - Casey LaScala, Cinematographer - Steven Poster, Production Designer - Alec Hammond, Costume Designer - April Ferry, Film Editor - Eric Strand, Film Editor - Sam Bauer, Original Music - Michael Andrews
Distributor: Newmarket Film Group
Release Date: 10/26/2001
Running Time: 122 minutes
OFFICIAL SITE
Production Notes:
-Notes provided by IFC Films-
In a funny, moving and distinctly mind-bending journey through suburban America, one extraordinary but disenchanted teenager is about to take Time's Arrow for a ride.
October 2nd, 1988: just another ordinary day in Donnie Darko's teen-aged existence. He's taken his medication, watched Dukakis and Bush debate, and had dinner with the family. Then comes an outrageous accident. Out of the blue, a 2,000 pound jet engine plummets from the sky and crashes into Donnie's bedroom, obliterating it. Luckily, Donnie isn't in bed. Or is it luck? As Donnie begins to explore what it means to still be alive, and in short order to be in love, he uncovers secrets of the universe that give him a tempting power to alter time and destiny.
From 26 year-old first-time writer-director Richard Kelly comes the provocative Donnie Darko, a genre-busting fable that blasts the American suburban drama into a wildly imaginative realm of time travel, alternative universes and the manipulation of one's fate. But at the core of Donnie Darko is the simple story of a boy trying to make a stand in a lonely, chaotic world - and discovering that every little thing he does counts on a cosmic scale.
Seen at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Donnie Darko became one of the festival's most talked-about and debated films, praised for blending sci-fi fantasy with an original vision of a modern suburbia teetering on the edge of dread and disaster. The question became: what is Donnie Darko? Is it a look back at the underbelly of the Ferris Bueller and Back to the Future era? Or is it a wild journey into multiple realities and multiple outcomes? Is it the story of an increasingly cynical, hypocritical society on a crash-course with apocalypse? Or is it a fairy-tale about a teen hero who changes the world around him? Is this the cosmic death knell of the Reagan Era, or a portrait of a troubled community redeemed by the hand of God?
The surprising answer is that Donnie Darko is all of these - a deep inquiry into the recent past and the possibilities for the future all wrapped up in the story of a teenager unlike any you've met before. Writer/director Richard Kelly purposefully wanted Donnie Darko to be vast enough to mean different things to different people. But he offers this guidance for the mind-blowing ride ahead: "Maybe it's the story of Holden Caulfield, resurrected in 1988 by the spirit of Phillip K. Dick, who was always spinning yarns about schizophrenia and drug abuse breaking the barriers of space and time. Or it's a black comedy foreshadowing the impact of the 1988 presidential election, which is really the best way to explain it. But first and foremost, I wanted the film to be a piece of social satire that needs to be experienced and digested several times."
Donnie Darko is a Richard Kelly film starring Jake Gyllenhaal ("October Sky"), Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze and Noah Wyle. The producers are Sean McKittrick, Nancy Juvonen and Adam Fields. Drew Barrymore, Hunt Lowry and Casey LaScala are executive producers, along with Will Tyrer, Chris J. Ball and Aaron Ryder.
***
So then, who is Donnie Darko? That's a question to which even Donnie Darko himself is seeking an answer. For Richard Kelly, the answer is "a kid from a village named Middlesex who has a lot of big problems and a lot of big ideas - and in 1988 he embarks on a journey that lasts 28 days and causes quite a stir."
Says young Jake Gyllenhaal, who delved deep into the unsettling mind of Donnie Darko to take on the tour de force role: "Donnie's a teenager like a lot of teenagers who starts out completely unsure of where he fits in the world, or if he fits at all. But through an incredible experience he comes to truly understand who he really is and the effect he has on other people, which takes him on a fantastic journey through dreams, sadness, comedy and madness."
Donnie Darko might be off-the-charts in intelligence but he also has some off-the-wall problems: he sleepwalks, he has hallucinations and he's being followed around by Frank, an eerie, demonic presence. Yet these are the least of his troubles. The real crux of his existence is the terrifying world around him - a 1980s reality besotted by pop culture, material excess, fundamentalism, encroaching cynicism, prescription drugs and hypocrisy. Yet the amazing thing is that Donnie becomes an entirely unexpected hero of these strange times.
Donnie Darko writer/director Richard Kelly was 13 in 1988 and grew up in the thick of the angst, loneliness and underlying dreams of his generation -- a generation that, unlike those of the 60s and 70s, has yet to really be explored in cinema. Thus when Kelly emerged from USC ready to write his first screenplay, he decided to thrust his main character, Donnie Darko, right into the heart of this world, with a twist. He gave Donnie a distinctive reason - a chaotic near-death experience - to try to understand the secrets and lies surrounding him . . . and perhaps the power to alter them.
For executive producer Casey La Scala, this unique look back at the 1980s mindset - the period when hyper-individualism came into fashion in America -- was very revealing. "I think that sometime in the past 20 years, kids really started having to be more adult," he says. "And this is a movie that reflects that world, a world in which as Richard says you have to save yourself because your parents aren't going to. You have to figure out what you believe and how to resist the pressures of society and how to follow your dreams on your own. This is the world of Donnie Darko and it's unlike any of the teen films out there."
La Scala continues: "The 80s were all about consumption but in terms of the family unit, the question became what's more important: being able to communicate or getting a nice new Mercedes? I think Donnie Darko brings out how the family dynamic was really hurt by the quest for material happiness."
Adds executive producer Hunt Lowry: "Richard Kelly really took a lot from his own experiences growing up in the 80s and that added something very true to a script that is both a coming-of-age journey and a sci-fi fantasy about time portals. He really captured the path people were heading down and the choices that face us even now."
From the beginning, Richard Kelly wanted Donnie Darko to break boundaries - in a very entertaining way. "People were always telling me that there are no original ideas left, so I tried to challenge that," he says. "I tried to come up with a story that twists and turns and brings different genre elements together in a way that can't be classified but is consistently intriguing."
Kelly knew he was going out onto the edge - but he also wanted to ground his story in recognizable, relatable characters straight out of the poignancy and confusion of real life. "The characters in Donnie Darko are all based on archetypes of real people, people that you know, people that you grew up with, and people that beat the shit out of you in high school," Kelly observes. "That's where the heart of the story lies."
Kelly believed so strongly in the blending of elements in his script that he refused to turn it into a more straight-ahead teen romance or sci-fi thriller, despite immediate offers to buy his script if he would do so. Instead, he held out for the chance to bring his full vision of Donnie Darko to the screen.
The final script for Donnie Darko was a lot of things - a crackling satire, a teen fantasy turned macabre nightmare, a head-spinning ride through the physics of time. But most of all it struck close readers as an indelible portrait of post-Reagan America, a world in which innocence itself seemed lost in time. Two people who were immediately struck by the power of Richard Kelly's vision were Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen of Flower Films.
"I was truly freaked out by Donnie Darko because it was so smart," Juvonen says. "So many scripts are formulaic and predictable, but this script took risk after risk after incredible risk and still kept you in suspense, constantly drawing you in with more questions than answers. I thought it was a rare find."
She continues: "To me, it was a really different sort of coming-of-age story about a really smart kid who is coming to a place here he really believes that anything is possible and that he can make a difference by making his own decisions and doing things the way he sees them. I think it's inspiring because it asks you to question who you are and what you're doing here. It pushes your imagination to places you might not otherwise go."
Barrymore says she too was "blown away." "Reading the script provoked not only a lot of questions but deep emotions," she recalls. "The script really captured that burning desire to figure out life's mysteries and the idea that there's always this underlying possibility for you to follow another path and make a change. It was a real hero's journey. But most of all, it was clear right away that Richard had something extraordinary inside him and was going to make a wonderful, original movie."
Barrymore adored the depth of Donnie Darko but it was ultimately something else that sealed her profound attraction to it. She explains: " Donnie Darko isn't just philosophical and poetic; it's also very real and very funny and moves with the lightness and accessibility of a comedy. Even though he goes into alternate worlds and questions the rules of the universe, Donnie Darko's experiences at school, with his girlfriend, with his family and in his dreams seem incredibly true to life. And that's what makes you follow him."
Ultimately, it was Barrymore and Juvonen's excitement about the project that got it off the ground with Kelly's vision intact. Says producer Sean McKittrick, who has collaborated with Richard Kelly since their college days: "Drew Barrymore was our godsend. If it wasn't for her talent as an actress and producer this movie wouldn't have been made. I think Flower Films really understood that this look at the 80s will be extremely interesting to both those of us who lived through it as well as to kids coming of age right now in a world only slightly different."
Throughout the process of making Donnie Darko, everyone involved become more and more enveloped in the story's many layers. Says Nancy Juvonen: "One thing we realized pretty quickly is that this is one of those rare movies that will keep getting more and more interesting on repeated viewings. It's very precise and complicated and follows an intriguing logic. In the end, everything hooks up to everything else."
Sums up Sean McKittrick: "Every moment in this story is there for a reason, every little character and every set piece is there for a reason. There's not a shot in the film that doesn't mean something. You're sent on a 28 day journey where you're basically torn in 100 different directions but it all winds up back in one spot - and you have to decide for yourself what you've experienced."
Because Donnie Darko is so many different things - hero, nutcase, threat, rebel, lover, prodigy-to so many different people, finding an actor who could handle the different facets of the role, while still being a very believable teenager, was absolutely key to the project's genesis. Although the filmmakers began with extensive auditions, the process came to a grinding halt when they saw Jake Gyllenhaal,
Gyllenhaal was a shock not least of all because he had previously won acclaim for an entirely different sort of performance in the uplifting October Sky. But there was no doubt that Gyllenhaal understood Donnie Darko in an instinctual way and caught all the nuances of both his humor and his darker conflicts. "The fact that we found Jake and that Jake is Donnie Darko, I mean really is this character, was incredible," says Drew Barrymore. "Jake is subtle and amusing and spiritual and has so much going on inside him that he takes you right into Donnie's world. The fact that he became part of this movie just makes me really believe in and appreciate the workings of fate."
Continues Nancy Juvonen: "Jake really is able to ride that line between being a teenager questioning authority and bending the rules and being an adult -- which is exactly where Donnie Darko is at. He's got that wise-beyond-his-years quality. Without him, we couldn't have made as entertaining and as complex of a movie."
Gyllenhaal, who in addition to his acting career is studying Eastern Religion at Columbia University, was profoundly moved by Richard Kelly's probing script. "To me what made it so exciting is that it isn't all happening on the surface," he says. "You're caught up in it and entertained but you could just as easily read it two or three more times and get a deeper and deeper understanding of everything that's going on. It's really unique because it's a movie that you can't wait to get to the end of so you can discover what it means for yourself. I think it will be an individual experience for everyone who sees it."
He continues: "Even Donnie Darko's name makes you question who he is. It sounds like he could be a super hero or a porn star or somebody's idea of a joke, but then there is a reality to it, too. He has a little bit of all of that in him." The 80s setting also intrigued Gyllenhaal, even though he was just a little kid during that era. "I think the story reflects both the recent past and the present and shows us a little bit of how we got to where we are today," he says.
Gyllenhaal was drawn not only to the character of Donnie Darko but to the tapestry of people whose lives his character touches. "I really like that every single character in the film is ultimately redeemable," he says.
Chief among the people Donnie Darko touches is Gretchen Ross, the new girl in town who is carrying a darkly disturbing past of her own. Gretchen is played by 16 year-old Jena Malone, who is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after actresses of her generation, and will next appear with Kevin Kline in another look beneath the surface of American suburbia: Life as a House.
Malone says that she "completely fell in love with the script" and describes the film as a "part sci-fi adventure, part hot teen romance and part original look at life and destiny." Her own character held a particular fascination for her because of her unconventional connection with Donnie Darko. "I really like Gretchen because although she and Donnie become boyfriend and girlfriend it's not this whole cute thing and it's not what you would expect. It's really intense and they both have really big problems," she says.
Malone surmises that Gretchen falls so quickly for Donnie because he's "the type of person you can tell everything to and who can relate to your worst problems on a really deep level. He's sensitive, he's funny and of course he's pretty good looking." "But," she adds, "Gretchen also sees him not sleeping and going wild at school and going through these events that seem very weird and random, and she starts to wonder just what's going on with him."
As for audience members who are also a bit concerned about just where Donnie Darko is heading, Malone has a word of advice: "Sit back and go with it. You're about to go on a journey into a really wild mind."
Then there are Donnie Darko's loving but disconcertingly ineffective parents - who watch helplessly as Donnie is nearly killed by a plummeting jet engine. Donnie's Dukakis-despising dad Eddie Darko is played by veteran character actor Holmes Osborne and his bewildered mother Rose Darko is played by two-time Oscar nominee Mary McDonnell.
McDonnell joined the cast of Donnie Darko because she says the script "took my breath away. It was such an uncanny combination of tragedy and extraordinary uplift. It's the kind of movie you can't stop talking about, that challenges you to really think about things." She says of Richard Kelly: "Reading the script, I felt like there was a 150 year-old spirit inside this 20-something kid. He knows what's going on inside young people but he has a really sophisticated way of getting to it. He has an incredible amount to offer."
McDonnell particularly liked the multi-dimensionality of Rose Darko, who isn't just a cardboard cut-out suburban mom but a smart, passionate parent who sees her son going through something larger than she can grasp. "What's going on inside Donnie is really beyond anything Rose and Eddie can hope to control or understand," she explains. "However well intentioned we are as parents, the train has run away without us. So the question for them is: how do you handle it when you love someone more than life yet you can't protect them?"
Says producer Casey La Scala: "Mary brought a whole new element to the character of Rose Darko and really brought the character to life in a way that makes her moving and real."
To play one of Donnie Darko's favorite teachers, the controversial, open-minded English teacher Ms. Pomeroy, the filmmakers looked among their own. Drew Barrymore took on the role in an unusual but exciting departure for her. "I love Ms. Pomeroy," she admits, "but it's very different for me to be so contained and mature. She's a woman who has a profound love of literature and really wants to share that with kids and I just love that about her. I love that she's this sort of 80s hippy who is smart and calm and idealistic. And like Donnie, she wants to be truthful and get to the heart of what life's all about."
She continues: "The thing that's important about Ms Pomeroy is that she really gets Donnie. Isn't that what we all wanted from our teachers - to find one who really understands you and believes in you? Ms. Pomeroy is one of the few people who is really happy that Donnie is out there questioning the rules and laws of the universe."
Less happy about Donnie's inquisitive an curious nature is Jim Cunningham, the fundamentalist guru who has divided the world into two principals - love and fear - while getting filthy rich. In a true role reversal, the darkly comic Cunningham is played by heart-throb Patrick Swayze. "Patrick really got the joke of Jim Cunningham but he added something really special to the role," notes Nancy Juvonen. "He came in an incredible shark skin suit and a bouffant pompadour so hair sprayed that it couldn't even move in a hurricane and it was clear that he was absolutely devoted to capturing this creepy but charismatic fellow. We felt so lucky to have him at a point when he's pushing the envelope in his career."
Swayze even allowed the production to shoot Cunningham's slimy infomercials on his own ranch to give them an authentic look. Says Richard Kelly: "Patrick was incredibly generous and had a great sense of humor throughout his work. I think people are going to gain a new appreciation of his talents through this role."
Another influential character in Donnie Darko's life is his shrink, Dr. Lilian Thurman, a hypnotherapist with a penchant for writing prescriptions. The role marks the most recent screen incarnation of Katharine Ross, best known for her unforgettable roles in two Oscar-winning classics: The Graduate and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Ross takes on few screen roles but she was drawn to Richard Kelly's script, which stunned her with its complexity. "I thought it was funny, intelligent, touching and surprising from start to finish," she says. "And I liked my role because I get to hear everything that happens to Donnie, including his deepest secrets."
Ross had a blast playing a psychiatrist but the real draw for her was the chance to work with such a young and enthusiastic cast and crew. "I think it's incredibly exciting to work with people just starting out because they're so energetic and so innovative. I mean the people making this movie are the future of filmmaking," she observes. For Jake Gyllenhaal, it was an equal thrill to work with Ross. "To work with this great actress who was part of The Graduate and Butch Cassidy - which are just two staple movies for me -- and who has such a tremendous aura was amazing," he says.
Rounding out Donnie Darko's family are his two sisters Samantha, who is played by child actress Daveigh Chase, and Elizabeth, who is played by Jake Gyllenhaal's real-life sister Maggie Gyllenhaal. "I thought it would be pretty interesting to play brother and sister," admits Maggie, whose career is just as accomplished as her brother's. "But this was also a really interesting script that was hard to pass up. I loved the idea of playing high school kids in the 80s, and I loved the idea that it's about all the connections between growing up and philosophy and time travel. It's got a love story, comedy and many surprises and I think the reactions to it will be equally complex."
On the set, Maggie was blown away by her brother's complete transformation into the mysterious Donnie Darko. "He really gave a risky, passionate, intense performance," she says. "It was the perfect part for him. Growing up, Jake and I always talked about wanting to make interesting, daring movies, and it's really fun to be a part of this one together."
Finally, the cast is completed by James Duvall, who plays the mysterious apparition Frank. "Frank is really Donnie Darko's guide," explains Duvall, "the one who helps him find his fate and his destiny. He might be an alter ego, or another person, or a hallucination, but that's really up to people to decide for themselves."
Donnie Darko was shot entirely in the city of Los Angeles, yet creates a stark, eerie, Americana look that could be Any City in Anywhere USA. There are no palm trees in sight, despite the fact that Long Beach stands in for Donnie Darko's nondescript neighborhood somewhere in the state of Virginia.
From the outset Richard Kelly wanted the film to be as unique a visual experience as it is an emotional and intellectual experience, so he brought in award-winning cinematographer Steven Poster (A.S.C.). Together, the two decided to shoot the film in widescreen anamorphic to highlight the bizarre nature of Donnie's world and his unrelenting visions.
Steven Poster explains: "Here we were going to be telling a story far outside the boundaries of reality, so we were freed to use a different canvass than usual. It might be unusual to shoot in widescreen for a movie of this subject and this size, but this is an unusual movie!"
Although Poster has worked on everything from action adventure thrillers to comedies, he was drawn to the freshness of Richard Kelly's offbeat fable - and to Kelly's passion for visual storytelling. "I read the script and fell in love," he says, echoing the sentiments of others in the cast and crew. "It just made me want to talk to this director and ask him a lot of questions. What I found is that Richard is extremely clear about his vision. He's very definite about his creative decisions but he tells you what he wants and then lets you go for it."
Poster also oversaw the CGI work that creates the wormhole trails Donnie Darko follows into the future. Ultimately Poster and Kelly opted away from the trendier high-tech styles popular in contemporary cinema - such as skip bleaching - and opted for a more spare, straight-forward visual style that emphasizes the meaning-laden imagery of each frame. "I think we decided that the film itself is so unusual, we didn't need anything way out there visually. We wanted to find the best way to tell the story with powerful images that stand on their own."
Poster and Kelly also collaborated closely with production designer Alexander Hammond and costume designer April Ferry to give the film an authentic 80s feel. "The lifestyles of the 80s inform every part of the film," notes Poster, "and we wanted that to come out not only in the surroundings but in the textures and colors on the screen. There is a sense of being at a particular place in time but also a sense of timeless mystery."
Ultimately, Richard Kelly hopes the aura of mystery will linger far into the audiences' future. "I wanted Donnie Darko to provide some answers but also to leave you with some questions," he says. "I've always thought the best movies are the ones that you talk about and think about long after the ride home."
