Richard Kelly’s Next

I’ve only seen one film by the guy, and I’m already a big fan. Donnie Darko was one of the most imaginative and well shot independent films i’ve seen in the past ten years. I’m looking forward to his next project.

Kelly Opens The Box

Director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) told SCI FI Wire that his next project will be The Box, a film adaptation of a Richard Matheson short story, which he will make with filmmaker Eli Roth (Cabin Fever). “We’re co-writing a project together called The Box that Eli is going to direct,” Kelly said in an interview. “It’s based on a Richard Matheson short story that I optioned probably a year and a half ago. We are adapting the short story into a screenplay right now, and probably we’ll start shooting in November of this year.”

Kelly described the project during an interview at the Saturn Awards last week, where he presented his future partner Roth with the Young Filmmakers Showcase Award. (Kelly won the same award two years earlier, for his debut film Donnie Darko.) The Box “is about a mysterious box that arrives on a young couple’s doorstep,” Kelly said. “There’s a button on the box that presents them with an offer that says they will receive a great financial reward if they push the button, but someone they know will die. Madness ensues, and that’s what the rest of the story’s about.”

Kelly also said that bringing the story to the big screen was a dream of his for many years. “It’s kind of a cult story that Richard Matheson wrote long ago that was later formed into a Twilight Zone episode that I’d fallen in love with as a kid,” Kelly said. “Once I arrived in the business and had the opportunity to option the material, I thought it would be a great film, and Eli and I found a lead into the material. It should be a good movie. We’ll see.”