There are few directors as unique as Richard Kelly. The filmmaker started off his career with the cult-classic film “Donnie Darko,” and “The Box” is still an underrated film.
Sadly, his career seemed to go off the rails with “Southland Tales,” often regarded as one of the biggest disasters in modern film, and which premiered at Cannes 2006 to very hostile reviews. However, it appears that Kelly isn’t ready to let go of this film as he wants to make a prequel to it.
Set in the near future of 2008, the film told the story of Southland, an alternate history version of Southern California that was made as a dark comedy/satire. The cast featured Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mandy Moore, and Justin Timberlake. After the disastrous Cannes debut, the film was heavily edited and ended up making $374,743, off of a reported $17 million budget.
For some reason, via a recent Interview with Jane Schoenbrun, Kelly says he isn’t done putting this one away. He wants to make a quasi-sequel to ‘Southland’ and does have finished script that’s ready to go. Who in the living hell would want to finance this?
“Southland Tales” is still unfinished. I’m still beating the drum to try and do that one day. I joked that I’m going to be in the Academy old folks home finishing “Southland Tales” […] That’s a big complicated thing and it involves money and a lot of cast members. I’ve also been waiting for the technology to catch up in terms of licensing […] I’m hoping to expand and realize the full six chapters and the graphic novel. We’ll see. I’m going to keep banging the drum.
According to Kelly,“Southland Tales” is a six-chapter saga. The existing film only covers the second half. He wants to make a film covering the first three chapters. A sort of prequel.
Kelly’s 14-year absence in directing hasn’t been purposeful. He says that he’s tried very hard to get stuff rolling, but always seems to hit a dead end. He confirms that he has a bunch of projects that he’s been working on, and that there have been “roadblocks and obstacles,” optimistically adding “I wish I could have made more films, but I’m really excited about what the future holds.”
As we speak, Kelly has only helmed three films in his strange career. He was only 26 when “Donnie Darko” got released. Before that, he was a young graduate of film studies at the University of Southern California. ‘Darko’ wasn’t even a hit, but garnered a feverishly cult fanbase on home video. It ended up placing 40th on our 2000s Critics Poll.
So, the mystery behind Kelly continues. Some might call him a one-hit wonder, and maybe he will end up being just that, but his total disappearance has been truly bewildering. He still wants to make movies and there’s a clear attempt at doing just that, but, call it bad luck, or refusing to adhere to studio restrictions, he’s had many hurdles to overcome in trying to greenlight his fourth feature film.