'Southland Tales' filmmaker Richard Kelly talks porn stars and politics with RYAN PEARSON.
Continue reading this exclusive excerpt from "Southland Tales." (AP Photo/HO/Courtesy Sony Pictures)
(AP Photo/HO/Courtesy Sony Pictures)
(AP Photo/HO/Courtesy Sony Pictures)
(AP Photo/HO/Courtesy Sony Pictures)
(AP Photo/HO/Courtesy Sony Pictures)
(AP Photo/HO/Courtesy Sony Pictures)
After screening a scene from his upcoming movie "Southland Tales" at this summer's Comic-Con -- a scene in which Justin Timberlake, sporting gory makeup and a blood-stained T-shirt, lip-syncs to the Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" -- Richard Kelly took questions from the audience.
Kelly is known for his 2001 film "Donnie Darko," which -- while sometimes incomprehensible -- won a cult following for its extravagant sci-fi depth and droll visual style. Several queries from the audience focused on that particular universe, including one man who asked if he would be making graphic novels that revolve around it.
"I kind of need to move on with my life," Kelly responded. "I need to move on and make more movies."
Make that one movie.
Kelly has struggled to get his sophomore film -- an epic set in 2008 about celebrity culture, political extremism and the apocalypse -- off the ground and into theaters. Its eclectic themes and even more eclectic cast list -- including Sarah Michelle Gellar as the porn star who hosts a "The View"-style talk show, Justin Timberlake, John Larroquette, Cheri Oteri and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a washed-up actor -- make for a hard sell. He began working on it five years ago and remains in the editing process.
But despite negative reviews of an unfinished print screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Sony Pictures bought the independently-financed movie (made for around $30 million) and is expected to release it this fall.
"Like Kevin Smith, he has a cult following, and cult following is good in film," said Benjamin Feingold, president of acquisitions for Sony Pictures. "We were interested because we like the filmmaker and we like the subject matter, which is science fiction."
Kelly told asap that in the course of shaking his "that guy who made 'Donnie Darko'" tag, "Southland Tales" became too big for even the big screen. "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach," Kelly said. "I always order too much food when I'm at a restaurant. It's the same thing when I'm working on a film. I like working on an epic canvas."
He imagined enough backstory to fill three prequel graphic novels that will lead up to the 2 1/2-hour film. The first is available now in comic book shops, the second is to be released in mid-September and the third a month later. (See asap's exclusive excerpts of the first six pages of the second book, "Southland Tales II: Fingerprints.")
Kelly is a 31-year-old graduate of University of Southern California's film production school. His MySpace page includes "writing, directing, conspiracy theories" among his interests, and he comes across in person as earnest and reflective but almost unable to control his hyperactive mind. He mentions porn stars, President Bush and quantum teleportation in nearly the same breath.
He said he hopes the political message of "Southland Tales," cloaked in satire and subversive humor (including Gellar singing a pop song called "Teen Horniness Is Not A Crime"), can get younger viewers to vote or at least pay attention to current events.
"You make films that you try to galvanize people to talk about, to come up with a solution and try to solve our dilemma. It comes down to that, a desire to shake people up and get them to pay attention," he said. "I'm a hypocrite too. I didn't vote until the last election. Guilty as charged. I'm trying to wake myself up as much as anyone that reads this."
To get there, he said he's blending the silliness of Gellar's character and actors like Janeane Garofalo and Mandy Moore with serious themes like:
-- Alternative fuel and renewable energy. In the movie, scientists find a way to harness the ocean's power to create a sort of wi-fi field of electricity "where you can hold a fluorescent bulb up and it'll just start glowing. ... We call it fluid karma."
-- Overreaching government. A think tank called US-IDENT controls the Internet in the movie, and in the first graphic novel, officials shoot and kill a man who tries to run across the border between Arizona and California.
-- Political extremism. One of the film's jokes is that a group of neo-Marxists have taken up arms to fight the right-wing government. "It's trying to poke fun at extremism on both sides," Kelly said. "But it's much more gentle nudge on the left, given that I am on the left and I actually probably am a neo-Marxist myself."
So ... porn stars, The Rock, "The View," politics, social satire and ... a musical interlude with Justin Timberlake? It all seems like a bit too much, right? Kelly argues that his hybridization of genres reflects our everyday lives.
"You go to the news stands, and you see Hezbollah, and right next to it, you see 'Us' magazine and the starlet of the moment," Kelly argues. "Life works that way. You have the constant balance of danger and release."
For now, though, he's simply looking to be released from his one previous movie, no matter how large its cult following. It has become a weight on him, in a way, that won't be lifted until "Southland Tales" is out. During the course of an interview, Kelly starts to look tired just thinking about going back into the editing booth to re-cut his new movie for a proper release.
"No one can say we didn't swing for the fences on this one," he said. "From here on out, we'll hopefully have more of a support system. This is a huge movie that we've made for a shoestring small budget, and the graphic novels on top of it all has driven us all to the point of exhaustion -- physical and emotional exhaustion on every level. But it's great to see it all happening. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. We're finishing it. It'll be worth it. The risk will bring the reward at some point. It happened with 'Darko' so hopefully it'll happen with this one."
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Click on the panels from the graphic novel to see them larger.
ONLINE: Kelly and others have seeded the Internet with "Southland Tales"-related sites. For a taste, see the following:
www.southlandtales.com
krysta-now.com
www.myspace.com/southlandtalesofficial
myspace.com/boxersantaros
myspace.com/45755827
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Like many Americans, asap staff reporter Ryan Pearson never could quite figure out "Donnie Darko."
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