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INTERVIEWS

Interview: The Box Director Richard Kelly, Part 1: Spoiler Free

by Alex Billington
November 3, 2009

Just yesterday, at a quaint hotel in Beverly Hills, I sat down to interview Richard Kelly, the mastermind behind the upcoming film The Box and one of my all-time favorite films, Donnie Darko. We spoke at length about developing The Box and his fascination with science fiction, but because his new film has some big surprise twists, I decided to record a second part talking specifically about spoilers (that will be posted next week after this hits theaters). This half of the interview is completely spoiler free and is about everything The Box and how he got to this point in his career. If you're a fan of Richard Kelly, you need to watch this!

Watch my interview with The Box writer and director Richard Kelly - Part 1:

This interview was shot using my Flip Mino camera. In terms of my thoughts on The Box, I actually liked it a lot. I can't talk about it at length yet, but it's a vast improvement over Southland Tales (which I hated), but doesn't ever reach the heights of Donnie Darko. That said, it's a great film on its own merits, and if you look past Cameron Diaz and at the great performances of James Marsden and Frank Langella, plus the story itself, there's a lot to appreciate. In fact, I think the questions it brings up about morals are quite brilliant. The Box hits theaters this weekend - November 6th - go see it! Check next week for Part 2 of my interview.

Explore tags: Hype, Indies, Interviews

Fuelbot

It's really easy to hate Southland Tales. Donnie Darko left me, literally, speechless when the credit's rolled, but there are moments of absolute genius in Southland Tales. Sure, they're few and fleeting but it's still in there. The Box is definitely his most mainstream film, so I'm hoping it at least makes it's cash back so Kelly can keep making movies. In this day and age, he's an honest-to-god original filmmaker and we need more films that challenge the viewer.
http://movies.iconocritic.com peloquin

Wow...you're 2 for 2 today Fuelbot...I agree completely with everything you said and if anyone's looking for further explanation from Kelly regarding Southland Tales there's a great piece on RT where he explains why it was such an important film to him and why he thinks it didn't reach its full potential... http://au.rottentomatoes.com/m/southland_tales/news/1688330/richard_kelly_tells_southland_tales_of_love_and_devotion
jesse

I didn't like Donnie Darko very much. I still can't see why people think its that great as its way to predictable. You made me laugh at the start of this video. You sounded like you were about to sqeal like a school girl.
Fuelbot

#3 - I don't know anyone who thought Donnie Darko was predictable, at all.
jesse

Well, I'm Jesse. Now you do. The movie just had bad timing for me. At that period I was amazing at seeing the set ups at the start of movies and tv shows, and was able to understand what will happen before even mins into it.
Collin

@5 And now your powers of observation have faded? Nice interview - keep more stuff like this coming to the site.
Ben

@5... yeah and I predicted the ending to Sixth Sense and Saw as soon as the opening credits rolled in. /end sarcasm. Anyways, good interview Alex and The Box was a great movie
Robbie

I can't freakin' wait to see this movie.
Roger

Me gusto mucho la entrevista (nice questions, thank you Alex). Espero ver pronto la pelí.