Because you demanded it, a Richard Kelly-less Donnie Darko sequel!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I was out most of the day catching up on some end of the week errands and I return to the computer to find the email inbox flooded with readers sending links to Screen Daily who have a story up about a sales company called Velvet Octopus who will be shopping a sequel to DONNIE DARKO at Cannes.
It will be called S. DARKO and follow Donnie Darko's little sister (Daviegh Chase will come back to play Samantha Darko) who is now an 18 year old on a road trip with her best friend, headed for Los Angeles... of course she starts having visions and we get going all over again.
The more distance I get from Richard Kelly's DONNIE DARKO, the more I appreciate how it really captured lightning in a bottle. It had a great central performance by pre-super star Jake Gyllenhaal, it had a mind-bending premise just as audiences were hungry for one (post FIGHT CLUB) and the storytelling is masterful. I'm not as big of a fan of the Director's Cut, but it's still not a bad version to have out there.
Richard Kelly will not return to write or direct this sequel. Instead they got a guy named Chris Fisher, whose previous credits include NIGHTSTALKER and RAMPAGE: THE HILL SIDE STRANGER MURDERS... not exactly comforting.
They're aiming for a $10 million budget... I don't know what the intention is, but this feels like a direct to video cash in to me. I wouldn't be as opposed to it if Kelly were coming back to do it, but even then I'd say it's needless. The first movie stands well enough on its own. It's certainly one that I felt cried out for a sequel. You?
