Something must have changed over the last few years regarding the rights to Donnie Darko, with director Richard Kelly recently teasing that he’s done a huge amount of work on a potential sequel. The filmmaker’s breakout feature was one of the defining cult classics of the early 2000s, and went on to generate impressive home video sales, while there was even a stage adaptation launched in 2007.
A second outing was made and released in 2009, but Kelly had no involvement whatsoever in S. Darko, which was probably for the best. Producer Adam Fields and star Daveigh Chase were the only notable returnees for a follow-up that had already been deemed unnecessary long before it was sent straight to video and torn apart by critics.
Kelly was vocal in making it clear that he hated the very idea of S. Darko and was sick of constantly reiterating in interviews that it had absolutely nothing to do with him, so perhaps he’s looking to prove a point with a genuine Donnie Darko sequel of his own. The 45 year-old has now once again teased that something could be in the works, while also stating that the property will never be touched unless he’s taking a hands-on role in developing it.
“I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about anything Donnie Darko related. But it would be over my cold, dead body that I would ever allow anyone to do anything in that world without my overwhelming contribution and control. And I would be very, very, very excited to revisit that world in a very ambitious way.”
This year might mark the 20th anniversary of Donnie Darko‘s arrival, but it’s Kelly’s second effort that got a shiny new DVD and Blu-ray makeover. A remastered version of Southland Tales was released just yesterday, which includes both the divisive theatrical edition and the even more controversial cut that screened at the Cannes Film Festival back in 2008, and it doesn’t sound as though he’s anywhere near finished with that project, either, based on recent comments.