Friday, November 6

• The Box Reviews

  So far director Richard Kelly's The Box is one of the more polarizing movies of the year. Like it or not, one thing we can all agree on from seeing the trailer: Cameron Diaz totally cannot do a Southern accent.

  "Yes,The Box is crazy and convoluted, moody and melodramatic. But above all it is, in narrative and form, a mystery."

  — Chris Cabin, filmcritic.com

  "...The Box triumphantly qualifies for one of my favorite adjectives, 'preposterous.' But if you make a preposterous movie that isn't boring, I count that as some kind of a triumph."

  — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

  "The Box is alternately fluid and inspired, and rarely dull (though it is a little, on occasion). But too often it also feels strained..."

  — Manohla Dargis, New York Times

  "This preposterous Cameron Diaz thriller offers a promising premise: a mysterious box bestows riches in exchange for killing a stranger. But then it dumps in existentialism, government conspiracies, aliens, nosebleeds, deformities—and dresses it all in ugly '70s polyester fashions and geo-print wallpaper. Blecch."

  — Matt Stevens, E! Online

  "An artistic fiasco that cuts across genre lines and all logic to become, perhaps, an instant midnight movie."

  — Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

  
  
  

  The Box Trailer

  Cameron Diaz and James Marsden star - Releasing Nov. 6, 2009

  Posted 11/06/2009 by reelz

  Related: Richard Kelly | The Box

Saturday, October 31

• New Clips From The Box

  Richard Kelly's latest movie, The Box, explores what would happen if a couple was presented with an offer of one million dollars that would also result in a stranger's death. Originally a short story from acclaimed horror writer Richard Matheson, The Box will debut in theaters November 6. To promote its release, Warner Brothers have released five new clips of the movie, but should you like to remain unspoiler-ed, we suggest you don't watch them. Only push the "play" button if you dare...

  Here, Cameron Diaz receives the offer of the box from Frank Langella.

  Diaz discusses the offer with her husband (James Marsden).

  Here, Diaz learns about consequence from Langella.

  To see the other two clips, head here.

  
  

  Posted 10/31/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Cameron Diaz | Frank Langella | James Marsden | Richard Kelly | The Box

Tuesday, October 20

• A Mix of Retro and Sci-Fi Glimpses of Richard Kelly's The Box

  The studio has released a new batch of pictures from Richard Kelly's The Box. A re-imagining of a classic Twilight Zone episode, the movie revolves around a couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) who are given a mysterious box with a button that simultaneously gives them a million dollars but takes a random stranger's life.

  In homage to the story's roots, Kelly has set the movie in a meticulously recreated 1970's suburbia, with special attention paid to some of the less-well-considered fashion choices of the decade. Witness the particularly scary wallpaper and plaid pants on display.

  That box technology comes from somewhere else, though. So we also get a glimpse of weird, watery, otherworldly scenes that don't seem retro at all. All that plus a good look at the disturbing scar on the face of the mysterious stranger (Frank Langella) who brings the box in the first place.

  
  

  Posted 10/20/2009 by Bill

  Related: Cameron Diaz | Frank Langella | James Marsden | Richard Kelly | The Box

Wednesday, August 5

• No Richard Kelly For Donnie Darko Sequel

  

  Rumors of a Donnie Darko sequel involving director Richard Kelly, who wrote and directed the original Donnie Darko but had no part in the straight-to-DVD sequel S. Darko: a Donnie Darko Tale, found their way online months ago. MTV asked if Kelly would return for a third Darko and his response was an emphatic debunking:

  Absolutely not. I know nothing about it and I would never have any involvement with any existing or future sequel to Donnie Darko ever — ever! Never ever ever ever would I be involved with anything like that.

  So, just to be clear ... that's a no, right?

  Kelly's most recent work, The Box, an adaptation of a Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) short story, is due in theaters November 6.

  
  

  Posted 08/05/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Richard Kelly | Donnie Darko | S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale | The Box

Monday, July 27

• The Box Reveals Some Real Surprises at Comic Con

  

  Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly showed some more footage from his upcoming movie The Box at Comic-Con, and quite a few unexpected things popped out, including some pretty major spoilers — be warned.

  The movie, based on an old Twilight Zone episode, centers around an ordinary suburban couple who receive a mysterious box. Push the button inside and you get rich, but some stranger dies. The couple seem decent enough, though they are plagued by financial difficulties. They are, after all, directly modeled on the director's own parents.

  So there is a lot of temptation, but a lot of resistance — right? Apparently not. The wife (Cameron Diaz) shocked the audience by just going ahead and pushing the button. Ultimately, the movie really turns out to be a lot more about what comes next than it is about agonizing over the choice ... and from all reports, those consequences are quite a bit more bizarre and sci-fi than expected.

  Another highlight was the face of Frank Langella, who plays the creepy disfigured man who brings the couple the box. He is only glimpsed fleetingly in the trailer, so this was the first chance to catch more of his face. The CGI involved here was apparently disturbingly impressive.

  
  

  Posted 07/27/2009 by Bill

  Related: Cameron Diaz | Frank Langella | Richard Kelly | Donnie Darko | The Box

Thursday, June 25

• First Trailer for Richard Kelly's The Box

  The Box, adapted from a short story and Twilight Zone episode, is a science fiction period piece with a moral dilemma at its center. A financially strapped couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) receives a mysterious box from a stranger. In it is a button. Push it and all their financial problems are solved, but someone they don't know dies.

  A timely enough dilemma given the global financial crisis, but Richard Kelly has set his adaptation in the 70s in homage to the story's roots and modeled the couple on his own parents. So in a sense, the movie allows him to return to his childhood.

  In the trailer we get an introduction to his vision of 1976 suburbia (scary wallpaper, regional accents) and some hints of how he has expanded the original story line. There appears to be some sort of corporate conspiracy centered around the strange disfigured man (Frank Langella) who sent them the box, and we get a brief glimpse of a few weird images that are definitely not 1976.

  
  

  Posted 06/25/2009 by Bill

  Related: Cameron Diaz | Frank Langella | James Marsden | Richard Kelly | The Box

Friday, June 19

• Richard Kelly Gets Personal in Making The Box

  The Box started out as a six-page short story published in 1970 and was later adapted for a episode of the New Twilight Zone. But in re-working this sci-fi morality tale for the big screen, director Richard Kelly suggests that he is aiming more for a throwback than an update.

  The basic story is quite simple. A disfigured stranger gives a suburban couple a mysterious box. Inside the box is a button. If they push it, they get a million dollars, but there's a catch: some person they don't know will die.

  In a wide-ranging interview over at AICN, Kelly explains how he fleshed out the plot a bit, adding a nefarious corporation and some sort of connection to NASA's Viking program to the background. Mainly though, he talks about how he tried to give it more depth by recreating the look and feel of the 1970s – all the way down to the wallpaper. And then, to make it personal, he added his parents.

  He used them and even their accents as a model for the couple in the movie played by James Marsden and Cameron Diaz. Things got a little weird though when he brought them on set to watch the filming:

  It's very meta. You have my parents feeling like they're in a Twilight Zone episode watching James Marsden and Cameron Diaz portray very personal, autobiographical things about their life with their son directing it in this amazing Richard Matheson story that we've all grown up with.

  More details are sure to be coming soon, with the first trailer for The Box debuting in the next week or so and move footage scheduled to be shown at Comic-Con in late July.

  
  

  Posted 06/19/2009 by Bill

  Related: Cameron Diaz | James Marsden | Richard Kelly | The Box

Thursday, June 18

• Third Donnie Darko Movie Rumored

  

  It's only a rumor at this point, but Bloody Disgusting is saying that Fox may be planning a third installment of the 2001 cult hit Donnie Darko, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal and was directed by Richard Kelly (Southland Tales).

  The story of the first movie takes place in 1988 in a suburban town called Middlesex. Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal) is a teenage boy plagued by visions of a giant murderous bunny that tells him the world will end on Halloween. Sounds ridiculous, but the narrative combines high school melodrama, sci-fi, and horror in a seamless genre-bending package that provides more than a few memorable twists and turns.

  Kelly did not return to direct the second movie, S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale, which was a largely forgettable straight-to-DVD release that came out last month. But rumor has it that he will return for the third movie.

  We'll let you know when we get further developments.

  
  

  Posted 06/18/2009 by Rich Z

  Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Richard Kelly | Southland Tales | S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale | Donnie Darko

Monday, April 6

• New Poster and Status Update on Richard Kelly's The Box

  Richard Kelly's The Box, which is now slated to release on October 30, 2009, has a new poster and a MySpace update from the director. The new poster, which has a wide blood red swath bisceting Cameron Diaz's face, highlights the blood price around which the film is based.

  Adapted from the short story "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson of I Am Legend fame, it's the tale of a young couple who receive a mysterious box that promises to bestow $1 million, at the mere cost of some random stranger's life. The story received an earlier, somewhat campy adaption, in the New Twilight Zone.

  On his MySpace page, director Richard Kelly says, among other things, that the movie is completely finished, takes place in Virginia in 1976, and will include a whole lot of visual effects that required eight-months of post production. "It will be," he promises, "his most personal film ever."

  
  

  Posted 04/06/2009 by Bill

  Related: Cameron Diaz | Richard Kelly | The Box

Monday, September 24

• The Rock: new Southland Tales cut is "much better"

  Southland Tales, director Richard Kelly's long-delayed follow-up to the cult smash Donnie Darko, is set to finally arrive in theaters this November after an extensive re-cut mandated by the film's disastrous debut last year at Cannes.

  While few have seen Kelly's final cut, the new version has earned one key endorsement, from star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

  "I've seen it and it's fantastic," raved Johnson, whose name appears in Southland Tales' credits for the first time sans the trademark "Rock" moniker. "It's nothing like I imagined, and much better than the cut we showed at the Cannes Film Festival."

  Johnson made the remarks over the weekend at the press day for the Disney flick The Game Plan, which opens this Friday.

  
  
  Next Showing: Southland Tales opens November 9th
  

  Southland Tales Update

  Seann William Scott talks about Richard Kelly.

  Posted 09/24/2007 by reelz

  Related: Richard Kelly | Southland Tales | The Game Plan

Wednesday, September 5

• Scott in talks to enter Kelly's Box

  After Southland Tales debuted to a decidedly negative reception last year at Cannes, Richard Kelly's long-awaited sophomore project was plagued by rumors that the film might never see the light of day in the U.S. Thankfully, Sony finally put the speculation to rest last month when they announced that Southland Tales will open November 9th, with a running time considerably shorter than the 180 minute behemoth screened at Cannes.

  Kelly's apparent sophomore jinx hasn't done anything to sully his reputation in Hollywood. The Donnie Darko director is already hard at work on his third project, the horror flick The Box, with Cameron Diaz set to star. And now it appears like Southland Tales star Seann William Scott might be coming aboard as well.

  In an exclusive interview with ReelzChannel.com, the Dukes of Hazzard  star (lest we forget) revealed yesterday that he's currently in talks to join the cast of The Box, though details have yet to be ironed out. Scott describes Kelly's third film as "interesting and weird. It's gonna be a movie that people either love or hate. And I kinda like those films."

  An interesting and weird Richard Kelly film?  Imagine that.

  Scott's latest movie, Mr. Woodcock, opens September 14th.

  
  
  

  Mr. Woodcock - Trailer

  Seann William Scott battles gym coach Billy Bob Thornton

  Posted 09/05/2007 by reelz

  Related: Cameron Diaz | Richard Kelly | Seann William Scott | Southland Tales | The Box | Nancy Drew

Wednesday, July 25

• Southland Tales to finally see light of day

  Southland Tales, Richard Kelly's long-delayed follow-up to his 2001 indie hit Donnie Darko, is now set for a November 9th release, Variety reports. Originally slated to open in 2006, Southland Tales was targetted for extensive re-editing after a less-than-stellar debut at Cannes last year.

  I had the chance to visit the set of Southland Tales in September of 2005, where I chatted with several members of the film's impressively eclectic cast, including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Seann William Scott. Remarkably, none of them had the faintest clue as to what the film was about, which is never a good sign. 

  Director Richard Kelly is scheduled to appear at this week's annual San Diego Comic-Con, where he'll hopefully shed some light as to what exactly we can expect when Southland Tales arrives in theaters in November.

  
  

  Posted 07/25/2007 by reelz

  Related: Richard Kelly | Seann William Scott | Sarah Michelle Gellar | Southland Tales | Donnie Darko