The official Donnie Darko sequel is about to hit the United States, but it is not a film; it is a novel written by the director and screenwriter himself, Richard Kelly, titled “The Philosophy of Time Travel: The Epic Sequel to the Motion Picture Donnie Darko“: a project Kelly has dedicated ten years to, yet it does not have a solely literary outlet, as one might have expected. Much like Michael Mann hoped that Heat’s sequel, conceived as a novel, would become a film (and it is now starting to happen), Kelly conceived the new material by weaving it between a book and a future cinematic continuation yet to come.
For Donnie Darko’s 25th Anniversary, Richard Kelly’s Sequel Novel Arrives
Little is known about the novel “The Philosophy of Time Travel: The Epic Sequel to the Motion Picture Donnie Darko” by Richard Kelly except that it is structured through first-person writings signed by the characters, and that it is set in 1988, shortly after the events depicted in Donnie Darko (naturally the sequel S. Darko is not by Kelly, is not canon, and should be regarded as spurious). The novel runs to a substantial 800 pages. Kelly, who has worked on it for ten years, tells Variety about his multi‑media plans: “I have never lost contact with the cast. I am fairly certain they know I’ve been working on this stuff. The sequel is so massive that the book begins fourteen months after Donnie’s death, then I developed further narrative material, there will be a leap forward of 28 years, there are a ton of exciting things set to kick off around 2015/2016.” The idea, if this book were to be adapted, would be to derive an animated film from it, followed by a live-action project for the aforementioned planned 28-year forward jump. Monumental prospects, according to Kelly, on par with what the film represents for its fandom. Richard explained to Variety that he initially began writing the tale starting from events in the future, but then decided to return to the immediate consequences of Donnie’s death, turning that portion of the sequel into the novel that is about to be released. The unhidden hope is to re‑ignite attention to the brand enough to find a way to bring to life the official cinematic sequel. The American edition of the novel is published by Range Literary Publishing.
Comments