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Donnie Darko's Richard Kelly Explains Southland Tales
November 7, 2007
by Alex Billington
Arriving in theaters in just a few weeks is Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly's next movie, Southland Tales. This long-awaited post-apocalyptic film has gone through over a year of editing since a rough working cut debuted at the Cannes Film Fest in mid-2006. It's been described as incredibly complex, often confusing and even a mess, which is why we've got Richard Kelly himself to explain just exactly what happens in Southland Tales. The first step: pick up a copy of the graphic novel that Kelly wrote and read through that.
Secondly, here's where Richard comes in and does some explaining. He starts with his inspiration and the basic story of what's going on, which to be honest is a bit of helpful clarification. The original script was written 6 years ago just after Richard and his team returned from Sundance. Donnie Darko had just debuted there in January of 2001 and as soon as he got back, Richard started writing Southland Tales.
"The original inspiration, I think, was the T.S. Eliot poem The Hollow Men. And the last words of that: 'This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.' And I thought, let's flip that, and let's do a big LA comedy with a bunch of crazy LA eccentric characters. And then it was like the Hindenburg over downtown LA, I had that image. That it ends up with a big blimp and the riots. And it was like a big comedy about the city self destructing."
"I think in the original draft, the architecture was all there with the movie star, the twin, the cop, his brother who was an actor who's impersonating him, and there's a porn star, and there was a scandal… The neo-Marxists were more of an acting troupe, they weren't political and it was just a blackmail attempt to try to humiliate a movie star."
Richard goes on to spoil some of the ending, but jumps back in where things start to get interesting. All that was previously mentioned was written before 9/11, then after that Richard decided to take it in a different direction.
"So that architecture was always there. And after 9/11, I was like okay, I have this apocalyptic comedy that ends with rioting with the city on fire. With all these crazy characters, I thought, okay if it's really about the end of the world, let's try to take it to the next level and make it about something much more than just making fun of LA, trying to blow up LA. And I thought about all these ideas about homeland security and alternative fuel, and I just made it more of a science fiction, near-future kind of satire."
Now if you've started from the beginning, you're probably still scratching your head wondering who the movie star, the twin, the cop and his brother all are. Well here's where the studio takes over and has provided their own brief intro and synopsis, including explaining who plays which character.
Los Angeles, 2008: The city stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Southland Tales is an epic story set over the course of three days that culminate in a massive 4th of July celebration.
A large ensemble cast of characters include Boxer Santaros (Dwayne Johnson), an action star stricken with amnesia, Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar), an adult film star developing her own reality television project and Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott), a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.
And with that, the rest is up to you to interpret and enjoy. As with Donnie Darko, there is so much to analyze and take away from Southland Tales, that no one explanation can be provided. Of course it's sometimes confusing, but this isn't a film meant for everyone, it's meant for those of you who are looking to take something away from the cinematic experience. Southland Tales arrives in theaters starting on November 14th.
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Reader Feedback - 11 Comments »
1
So, by the last few sentences of this article I can assume you have seen Southland Tales and liked it ?
TheGuyInThePJ's on Nov 7, 2007
2
3
Thank you.
TheGuyInThePJ's on Nov 7, 2007
4
Man, the cast of this film is horrid. As much as I liked what Richard Kelly did with Donnie Darko, I don't think I could stomach this cast for 2 hours.
John on Nov 7, 2007
5
It is an interesting film indeed,only surpased by "Donnie Darko".This film is nothing like the mindless crap that we are used to, but to understand it you must really SEE it ,not just watch it!
Pavel on Mar 14, 2008
6
Absolute crap.
Absolute crap.
I wasted an hour and a half.
im sure it'll get some sort of "cult" following. But donnie darko was much much better than this peice of absolute shit.
IMHO
Mickie Darko on Mar 14, 2008
7
you're all idiots without reason and understanding. this film was fantastic. congrats mr kelly you are the man. fuck the rest of you, watch it again and try to understand it.
t-huff on Mar 22, 2008
8
I agree with Pavel. It's nothing like the stuff we're force-fed to watch these days. Films such as Donnie Darko, Southland Tales, and some might even say Cloverfield are a new revolution. It's such a relief to have movies such as these that take leaps and bounds away from the way society thinks all movies should be.
Colby on Mar 23, 2008
9
i liked it i just didnt get it ide like 2 figure out what the hell happened but it was entertaining and it kind of made me want 2 take acid
josh on Apr 1, 2008
10
I would like to propose that this movie is definitive evidence of the growing ego of a small minority of cinematic self-proclaimed messiahs. This movie is about as deep as Mt everest. Watching it, you can immediately tell that either the idea was created in a smoked filled crack house, or on the shag rug of a hippie liberal(no offense…HA) I watched the movie twice and it didn't just grow twice as bad, it grew infinitely worse. I enjoyed Donnie Darko, it was a masterpiece, fraught with deep meaning and sense. I like to equate this movie(SouthLandTales) with individuals perspectives about art. Some people like abstract, some like realism, but who watches an abstract art piece for more than 15 minutes. Money goes down the drain. We could all take a lesson from this movie, with vast amounts of time and marijuana, and the help from our trusty Alzheimer's side kick, we too can create abstract plot lines with the hopes of self-righteous "intellectuals" supporting our dimensionless movie.
EBPoncho on Apr 29, 2008
11
this movie rocked if u didnt like it u didnt get period !!! and by the way on the dvd there is a lil 10 min story about humanity and fuck is it true!!!
G on May 18, 2008