Richard Kelly will next write and helm the contemporary thriller “Corpus Christi,” a departure into a more traditional narrative for the “Donnie Darko” director.
Kelly and Sean McKittrick will produce along with Eli Roth, who has known the Darko duo since his “Cabin Fever” days. [The] Texas-set story concerns a mentally unstable Iraq war veteran, who forges a strange friendship with his boss, a wealthy and politically ambitious owner of a supermarket chain.
‘Donnie Darko’ was one of the best films of 2001 in my book. I freaking L-O-V-E-D that movie head to toe as did many others. That film gained a following and still rules. All that praise aside, I have wondered …what in the hell happened!? “Southland Tales” was mangled in production and delayed to the point where the film’s mess was all too evident. 2009’s “The Box” was one of the worst films I have ever seen in the last decade. I H*A*T*E*D ‘The Box’. And like ‘Tales’ it tanked. Neither film gained a rep following like ‘Donnie Darko’. After ‘Box’, my heart sank. As inventive as Kelly is, I was fearing that the writer-director was a one hit wonder. I’m still hoping that isn’t the case.
But this is a step in the right direction, I think. Kelly would have to try his hand at a different genre, and although I’m not Eli Roth’s biggest fan, I liked bits and pieces (no pun intended) of ‘Cabin Fever’ and ‘Hostel’. I was also lighly surprised by last year’s ‘Last Exorcism’ which Roth co-produced.
I’m thinking this could be a good partnership. I’m also hoping for at least a glimpse of what promise Kelly’s Donnie gave us not too long ago. Kelly has got a voice in film- I want to root for him.
It’s sink or swim time.
What do you think, should we write off Kelly, or not?
