our Twitter (X) feedView our Youtube channelView our Instagram feedView our Substack feedView our Spotify feed haal on the set of "Donnie Darko" Richard Kelly's forthcoming novel, "The Philosophy of Time Travel," ties up loose ends and introduces new mysteries to the "Donnie Darko" universe. The film, which turns 25 years old this year, ran into numerous obstacles both before and during its storied production. For one, the script centers on a troubled teen ultimately driven toward gun violence — a topic most Hollywood executives at the time stayed well away from, especially in the wake of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
Then there’s the story of how writer-director Richard Kelly shot the infamous opening sequence — “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS — without first securing the rights to the song, a leap of faith that could have well ruined one of the film’s most iconic moments. Last but not least, Kelly was not a seasoned filmmaker at the time, but a 25-year-old University of Southern California grad making his first feature. I was this skeletal kid, trying to keep it together.
But I knew what I wanted, visually, and that got me through.” If you’re a fan of Donnie Darko, you might already know all this. You’ll also know that, despite the many challenges, the film not only made it to theaters but eventually became a cult classic — steeped in 1980s nostalgia, it became a defining film for millennials and continues to resonate with audiences today. What you may not know is that Kelly, now in his 50s, is gearing up to release a long-awaited sequel.
Titled _The Philosophy of Time Travel_, it’s coming out this December. But unlike the original, it’s not a film, but a novel — one Kelly thinks has enough material for multiple cinematic adaptations. For once in his career, he says, “I didn’t just hopscotch over this part of my writing process, and gone through the laborious and agonizing process of putting together a novel and getting it published.” Agonizing, because although he’s clearly got a talent for it, Kelly has always considered himself a “director first and a writer second,” someone who thinks not in words but images like the unsettling bunny costume worn by Frank, the strange entity that warns Donnie of the “end of the world.” Kelly, who began drawing and painting at a young age after his parents enrolled him in an art class, met with numerous artists, only to nail down the costume’s design himself.
Inspired by the rabbits of _Watership Down_, the final look is less Easter Bunny and more predatory, with a toothy grin and large, white eyes reflecting moonlight. _The Philosophy of Time Travel_ covers a time frame of about 14 months and picks up less than 48 hours after the end of the original film, where an airplane engine falls on top of Donnie’s bedroom, killing him. Was Donnie murdered, or did he take his own life? And what does his death mean?” Kelly describes the novel as a “gigantic procedural murder mystery,” the action moving from Donnie’s traumatized Los Angeles community to the Mojave Desert and the Oval Office.
He also says he wrote _The Philosophy of Time Travel_ in large part to respond to persistent questions from fans of _Donnie Darko._ “Why didn’t Donnie get out of bed at the end of the movie? Why was he laughing hysterically? What about that weird drawing he makes in physics class?” In the original film, these questions go largely unanswered.
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