There are few directors that have had a roller-coaster career such as Richard Kelly. The filmmaker burst onto the scene with the cult-classic film “Donnie Darko,” which to this day is held in high esteem by many cinephiles. He then went on to write the script for Tony Scott’s “Domino,” which isn’t the best film, but Tony Scott is great, so that’s a win for Kelly. However, his career seemed to go off the rails with “Southland Tales.” But even though that film is often regarded as one of the biggest disasters in modern film history, it appears that Kelly isn’t ready to let the story die, as he’s preparing for a sequel.
Set in the near-future of 2008, the 2005 film tells the story of Southland, an alternate history version of Southern California and attempted to serve as a dark comedy/satire but was largely written off as a creative failure. And perhaps the most perplexing part of the whole situation is that Kelly landed a really great cast featuring Dwayne Johnson (one of his earlier film performances), Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mandy Moore, and Justin Timberlake. But after a less-than-desirable Cannes debut, the film was heavily edited and released to an unaccepting audience in theaters, where it earned a dismal $374,743, off of a reported $17 million budget.
Nevertheless, Kelly is anxiously working on a sequel that sounds just as ambitious as the first film, if not more, and he’s already got a finished script that’s ready to go. That is, if anyone is willing to give it a chance.
I’m not even going to try to explain how Kelly describes the new film, which is in fact a prequel to the 2005 feature. So, here’s how Kelly explains the story of the new prequel (via Twitter):
“#SouthlandTales is a six-chapter saga. The existing film covers the second half. I wrote graphic novels with @brettweldele that cover the first three chapters. I have completed an ambitious new script that uses the novels as a blueprint for an ambitious new film. My hope is to direct a new #SouthlandTales prequel film using a hybrid of animation and live-action. This new film could be released in tandem with an expanded version of the existing film with significant new content. If it happens… the animated portion of the new film would cover the 2008 events over the three days beginning on June 30th, when Boxer Santaros wakes up in the Nevada desert w/ amnesia… and then embarks on a journey through Las Vegas before returning to LA. The live action sections of the new film would bring to life sequences from THE POWER, the bonkers screenplay within-the-film written by Boxer Santaros and Krysta Now. THE POWER takes place in the year 2024 and has significant importance to the story told in 2008.”
Got that? Okay, good!
As for things that are more likely to happen, the filmmaker does also say that he’s completed work on 4K restorations of both the theatrical cut and Cannes version of “Southland Tales.”
He tweeted, “The 158 minute Cannes cut is rough with many unfinished visual effects. It will be released for posterity… but my focus has been on preparing the epic Version 3.0 of #SouthlandTales.”
So, for those “Southland Tales” stans out there, here’s your opportunity to start the “Southland Now” petition to see the new film get in front of cameras. For the rest of us, Kelly’s ambitious film continues to be a confounding mystery that never ceases to amaze.