“I have a lot riding on this film,” director Richard Kelly told the New York Times this weekend. about his upcoming horror/thriller, “The Box” starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella. “Until I have a theatrical hit, people aren’t going to keep giving me chances.”
Umm, he said a mouthful. Some think The Playlist is perhaps picking on Kelly, but we’re just not convinced he’s worthy of the boy genius tag some have bestowed him (again, see the “Donnie Darko” director’s cut which artlessly robs the film of all mystery and ambiguity, the less said about “Southland Tales” the better). And we are being hard on him because his ideas just don’t make a lot of sense (and honestly, we’d be happy if his films were cogent; he is talented).
The entire Times piece is all about selling Kelly as straightforward or studio-friendly, having changed from his esoteric ways, but it also goes on to say almost at every turn that his writing and work often lacks logic. By his own admission he says, “Cameron would police me,” he said about story elements on the set of “The Box.” “She would say, ‘Richard, now you need to keep this focused, you need to explain this because this logic doesn’t work.’ ”
His producing partner even says, “When he tries to pile too many ideas on top of each other — when he can’t explain it himself — that’s when you’ve got him. Richard’s greatest strength is his imagination, and sometimes it’s his biggest hurdle.”
The problem seems to be what is commercial to Kelly, is still far off the beaten path for mainstream viewers. He’s set “The Box” in the past (the ’70s) and basically taken his story idea — A man with a box arrives on the doorstep of a married couple, who says if they open it and press the button, they will become instantly wealthy, but also kills someone they do not know — is essentially ripped from a “Twilight Zone,” episode and seems incredibly outmoded and dated.
Also, there’s this new exclusive clip from MTV. And seriously? this is some of the worst dialogue [and stilted uncomfortable-to-watch acting] we’ve ever heard. “What is someone… pushing your buttons??” DAHN DAHN DANHHHN!! (all you have to really do is cue nefarious Vincent Price-like laughter and this would be a fait accompli of hilarious oooh-scary nonsense. James Marsden doesn’t look like he can cut it here either. If there is as much riding on “The Box” as Kelly says there is, he producing partners and agents might need to be a little worried. The film hits theaters November 6. Can it perform in the post-Halloween box office glut of horror films like, “Paranormal Activity” and “The Fourth Kind”? We’ll see.
“I would like to stay in the studio business. Because having to depend upon a film festival and trying to get a distributor, having acquisition executives hem and haw over this and that — I’ve done it, it’s scary and I just don’t want to do it anymore.” Totally hear you Richard. It’s understandable, but you might just find yourself in studio jail if this one doesn’t play. Kelly has ambitious ideas and we don’t want anyone shutting him down, but like his producers said, he might be his own worst enemy.