Sarah Michelle Gellar

Rumor has it that filming has begun on Richard Kelly’s next project SOUTHLAND TALES, a doozy of an ensemble picture that promises to be one of the most interesting film projects to come out of the gates in a long time. With his second movie project, Kelly is creating quite a buzz in talent circles, as his first film DONNIE DARKO has been heralded as a cult classic and critical, if not necessarily commercial, success. Supersecret details on the film’s pre-production are sparse. Casting rumors link the likes of Jason Lee, Ali Larter, Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and a host of Hollywood A-listers, though none can be confirmed (perhaps except Kevin Smith, who has gone on record saying he’ll be involved in some way).

In the second part of Moviepoopshoot’s exclusive interview, director/writer Richard Kelly speaks about his next project, and what his goals for it are (or may be). Don’t take anything too seriously here...and while I can’t lay down any details about what’s to come, I can say that Kelly drops some interesting hints in the following conversation...and that the real story behind the story is going to knock your socks off. Look for Kelly to lean heavily on his influences, Terry Gilliam in particular. The only thing SOUTHLAND TALES will have in common with DONNIE DARKO is that it stands to be packed flush with more new cinematic firsts and ideas than even DARKO was.

Q: Has production begun in earnest on SOUTHLAND TALES?

Richard Kelly: We’re going to be shooting material all summer. It’s hard to describe what we’re doing. It’s definitely material that’s going to be incorporated into the film, but in a sort of unusual way. It’s hard to elaborate any further without spoiling anything. It’s set in the year 2008, during a heat wave.

Q: Should we expect a trippy cinematic vision, sort of like Donnie Darko?

RK: It’s been a tough ride for me to get a second film off the ground. I spent a year on a film called KNOWING that kind of fell apart at the last minute, and that was really upsetting. SOUTHLAND TALES was a script that I’d always wanted to do as my second film. We were finally able to start putting it together. It’s about as far away from DARKO as you could possibly get. I definitely want to be known for films other than DARKO. I’m very anxious to prove that I can do something completely different. At the same time, it’s just as out there. I certainly hope that SOUTHLAND TALES will not disappoint anyone who loves DONNIE DARKO. It’s an epic film. It’s a massive film.

Q: You’ve got a huge cast for this one.

RK: And that’s only the beginning. There are a lot of people who are signing on as we speak.

Q: Can you tell me about any of them?

RK: I don’t want to jump the gun. Films are delicate. It’s a miracle that any film gets made, especially when you try to do something outside of the system. I’m working with a lot of comedians. I’m casting a lot of actors that maybe people don’t normally associate with art films.

Q: You’re looking at SOUTHLAND TALES as an art film?

RK: I certainly hope so. I don’t say that to sound pretentious. I think at the same time, it’s a comedy, and comedy is the greatest and most challenging thing to accomplish...to get a real laugh out of your audience. Maybe SOUTHLAND TALES, is my Andy Warhol film, it’s my pop-art film. That also doesn’t mean that SOUTHLAND TALES won’t have its share of disturbing moments.

Q: There’s a musical aspect to this production...

RK: Yes, there’s that, too. There’s definitely going to be a hybrid of genres. I hope it’s a very suspenseful film, but at the same time, there are going to be dance numbers and people singing occasionally. It won’t be done traditionally, though. It’s not GUYS AND DOLLS. It’s much more sort of...COPS AND PORN STARS. [Laughs] I’m trying to design a musical for people that hate musicals. I’m not a big musical guy. I’m fond of them, though.

Q: There is a new movement in musical cinema that says one must come up with his own mode of storytelling that will make the singing of a song valid. In CHICAGO, it was that all the songs were in Roxy’s head. Is there a similar mode operating here?

RK: In a way, yes. I don’t want to stress this musical stuff, because people will see the film and sort of say, well, that’s not really a musical, only part of it was.

Q: Is the music going to be all original, or will we see some stars doing some covers?

RK: A little bit of everything. If you look at DONNIE DARKO, we’ve orchestrated camera moves, and entire scenes, to pop songs. This new movie’s going to be orchestrated to music. I’m going to be playing the music live on the set for the actors. We’re going to be orchestrating the camera that way. A lot of pre-visualization has been done to music, so it’s almost a part of the screenplay. I’m also working with a choreographer who’s going to be on set the whole time, Marguerite Pomerhn. She did AUSTIN POWERS, and SHOWGIRLS, and DONNIE DARKO. She’s a great choreographer. It’s going to be interesting, because we don’t really know if any of this is going to work. It could be that when it’s all said and done, what I’m talking about is going to be much more subtle than what people are anticipating. I mean, THE BIG LEBOWSKI had a musical number.