Richard Kelly says the ‘Donnie Darko’ sequel ‘S. Darko’ was "horribly violating".
The 41-year-old director was at the helm of the original 2001 cult classic, but had no involvement in the 2009 sequel – which was widely considered a flop as it barely broke even at the box office – and he now says the idea of a sequel was one that "made [him] very angry".
Speaking about ‘S.Darko’, Richard said: "I’ve never seen it – it was horribly violating. It was incredibly painful to think about what they were doing, it made me very angry, filled with rage."
And Richard believes that his movie was only given a sequel because "people are out of ideas" and are "scared" to do something original.
He added: "I think people are out of ideas, people are scared and that’s Hollywood – it’s recycling past successes. It’s our job as artists to keep forging original paths and try and tell new stories and I’m committed to doing that and I’m trying my best to continue to do that.
"It’s like the love and fear lifeline in ‘Donnie Darko’, people operate from a place of fear for the most part. You’d be surprised about how many people in the business don’t even really love movies at all."
Despite the film’s sequel being unsuccessful, ‘Donnie Darko’ – which stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Drew Barrymore – has been critically acclaimed and is returning to cinemas this month with a 4K restoration to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its release.
Speaking about the movie’s success, Richard told NME magazine: "I knew we had something special but never in a million years did I think it would connect in the way that it has.
"I mean, I’m just astonished every day when I see new people discovering this film and embracing it and wanting to talk about it and all the imagery and merchandise that has come from it is inspiring because the film was, for quite a while, considered a failure. It was not successful at first so we didn’t come bursting out of the gate, we stumbled out of the gate and fell flat on our face and we had to pick ourselves up and keep going but that’s life y’know, so it’s incredibly inspiring.
"If anything it makes me want to work harder to make sure that the next film that I make lives up to the promise of ‘Donnie Darko’."
Richard Kelly found S. Darko ‘horribly violating’
