Voice over James Duval (Frank the Bunny) - Theatrical Cut

"28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds [..] That is when the world will end"

Donnie Darko

Frank voice (Theatrical Cut, original unedited sound)

Voice over James Duval (Frank the Bunny) - Theatrical Cut, AUDIO EDITED

"28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds [..] That is when the world will end"

Frank voice (Edited to bring out James Duval's voice)

[JAKE] Wow, there is my sister, my real life sister

[RICHARD] They didn't want me to point that in her face... the guy... the physical effects guy. I went up and pointed it up to my own face and went "Maggie don't worry". She was like "I don't care, just do it"

>Both laugh<

Audio Commentary - Theatrical Cut

Leaf blower scene (Theatrical Cut, audio commentary)

[RICHARD] Ah the Smurfs.

[JAKE] Ah the Smurfs.

[RICHARD] You know, originally they were shooting stuffed animals, and they had a Smurf doll that they were shooting at. When you go to make a film you have to clear any product placement, any cultural reference. There are attorneys you hire specifically to protect yourself from getting sued. It's a very long and arduous process. We were close to being able to use the Smurf doll and we had a conference call to the Netherlands with the Smurf... Peyo.. or this guy who invented the Smurfs. We had a conference call..

[JAKE] Payo?

[RICHARD] Peyo. It's his estate, because I think he might be really old, or maybe he's passed away. We had this conference call, and it was 4 in the morning. Drew, God bless her, was on the conference call, to talk to the Smurf people for us, to try to get the doll.

[JAKE] Drew Barrymore talked to the Smurfs is what you're telling me?

[RICHARD] It was surreal, it was surreal. There is this woman from the Netherlands and her assistent, and it lasted about 15 seconds, where she just said that they agreed with our interpretation of the Smurfs because Donnie is right in his description of the Smurf way of life and what they represent, and that he corrects the kids. They agreed and they would let us use it. And then the grand irony in this permission that we got, is we couldn't find the damn doll, anywhere. The prop guy couldn't find the doll.

[JAKE] Unbelievable.

[RICHARD] So it worked better that they just bring it into the conversation.

The Smurfs (Theatrical Cut, audio commentary)

[KELLY] This is probably the one that I miss the most too. It's ultimately... the big reveal here that they're just placebos, there is no medication, because he's not crazy. And deep down dr Thurman knows that he's not crazy, she knows that he's on to something, and they're all on to something.

She means this when she defines the atheist versus agnostic, and it's so important that she informs him that he is not an atheist, there is a difference between the two.

You know, the stuffed bear that he wanted and sought out...Jake kinda came up with this thing... and thinks that Donnie returns to a childlike state under hypnosis, and she goes and she picks it up...says goodbye to him, and it really breaks my heart.

I think Katheryn is so wonderful here.

Donnie Darko Deleted Scenes

Placebos (Donnie Darko Deleted Scenes)

[KELLY] This ah well... this is 'The Bertolucci' as Steven Poster likes to call it. This is [..] at one point just didn't even want to shoot this, but Sean McKittrick the producer was... you have to shoot this, you have to shoot the impalement just in case. It was just too violent... just too much, it's unnecessary, we don't need to see that... beautiful shot though.

Impalement scene: https://streamable.com/o9wl4y (NSFW!)

Impalement (Donnie Darko Deleted Scenes)

Commentary track with the rest of the cast. Drew Barrymore talks about Ms Pomeroy and how they changed the character because Drew wanted to play her. The clip starts with Drew talking about the scene where Ms Pomeroy has just been fired and screams at the top of her lungs outside the school. This scene was added after conversation Drew had about the character with Richard Kelly.

Donnie Darko Audio Commentary Theatrical Cut

Ms Pomeroy gets fired and screams (Theatrical Cut, audio commentary)

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
OFFICE OF ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION
TRANSCRIPT #345512334
SOURCE: USA -- WASHINGTON D.C./UNITED KINGDOM -- LONDON
DATE: 4/23/91 03:23:26 AM EST

CALLER 1: Hello?

CALLER 2: Yes, is this [NAME WITHHELD]?

CALLER 1: Yes.

CALLER 2: This is [NAME WITHHELD]. I apologize for calling you at home, but I am calling from London and this appears to be a very urgent matter.

CALLER 1: I understand. What have you got for me?

CALLER 2: We have run the tests on the engine parts that you sent to Heathrow and I have some rather conclusive results to share with you.

CALLER 1: Do we have a match?

CALLER 2: Indeed we do. The parts from engine x that you sent appear to be exact replicas from the [NAME WITHHELD] 747 that just returned from Honolulu. We have compared the serial numbers and they are exact matches.

CALLER 1: Are you sure of this? I need confirmation on all of the parts sent.

CALLER 2: Not only can I give you confirmation on all of the parts, I can confirm that the hand painted spiral is identical to the [NAME WITHHELD] 747 design. We have detailed proof that the designs are identical down to the fraction of an inch.

CALLER 2: Now I am at a loss as to how an exact replica of this engine could have fallen from a plane in your country on the evening in question. I have charted the flight records from this aircraft and I can confirm that this plane was en route to San Francisco from Denver, Colorado on the night of October 2, 1988. It landed safely at approximately 4:30 in the morning. We have confirmation on this plane as having been fully operational for international and domestic flights for more than six years.

CALLER 2: I must tell you that we are all at a loss as to how this could have occurred. It appears to defy logical explanation and we are all quite astonished with the information we have retrieved.

CALLER 2: How would you like to proceed in this matter?

CALLER 2: Hello? Are you still there? Hello?

<<<<<<<<<DISCONNECT

Donnie Darko website

Donnie Darko Website, FAA Call

Richard: Cellar Door

Jake: We shot this like the second or third day.

Richard: Yeah, she's written this on the wall. I think Edgar Allan Poe maybe said that, I don't know, but this is the clue. This is the whole thing. She's giving him this gigantic clue to the puzzle. Go find her cellar door, Grandma Death’s cellar door. She's sending him off. She's helping you know as the manipulated…she's helping to send them off to this accident.

[MS.POMEROY] Of all the phrases in the English language of all the endless combinations, of words in all of history, that cellar door is the most beautiful.

[DONNIE] Cellar door.

Jake: The irony of yet another American flag in the film, she stumbles out. I remember Drew making that choice. “Can I stumble out of the door?”

Richard: It's her exit. Giving each character a grand entrance and a grand exit, and we see them all for the encore at the end. Consciously I wanted Miss Pomeroy to be asleep. She has no idea that she's leading this kid onto this horrible accident, but it's necessary for that accident to occur. They've they gotta trap this kid and… it's an ensurance trap.

Theatrical Cut

Cellar Door

KELLY And then that's another misconception about the... from the theatrical cut or from a lot of the marketing materials, or even on the back of the region one DVD: a demonic Bunny, an evil Bunny. Really, there's nothing evil about the rabbit at all.

SMITH No no, not at all

KELLY It's a messenger that ultimately is... if you think about whoever is behind the technology or whoever somehow ruptured the space-time continuum, they're trying to fix this thing.

SMITH Yeah

KELLY It's like in Apollo 13, you know when they're trying to get the oxygen tube that'll connect the the square hole with the round valve to get oxygen into the certain part of the the capsule. You know, I imagine whoever ruptured this, and created this universe, they're trying to figure out how to send all these people home so the universe doesn't collapse.

Donnie Darko Audio Commentary Director's Cut

About the image of Frank

Sean McKittrick [Producer]: We were really trying to find the right song for the end sequence. Originally Richard [Kelly] had thought U2's MLK, which we didn't really see as that appropriate, considering it was about MLK [Martin Luther King]. We knew we also...there was no way we were gonna afford it. U2 is the biggest band in the world.

Richard Kelly originally wanted U2 - MLK for the end montage

Sean McKittrick [producer]: The one that ended up being very difficult was the Sparkle Motion dance sequence. Which we literally shot it, and choreographed it, to the Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls. And we had deals with INXS, where it was 'Favored Nations' [=licensing clause giving equal amount of money to artists] where we couldn't pay any other song more than we were paying for theirs, and the Pet Shop Boys wanted a hundred thousand dollars for the song, and they wouldn't budge off of it. So we had to go back in and recut the dance sequence to a different song.

Richard Kelly: And we were able to get Duran Duran to replace it.

Changing Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls to INXS - Notorious, the Sparkle Motion sequence

Donnie Darko (2001) - Commentary With Director Richard Kelly And Actor Jake Gyllenhaal

Transcript

KELLY ...and the red Trans Am, all the details

DUVAL My car

KELLY That's Frank, that's driving away

BARRYMORE Is that really your car?

DUVAL Yeah!

BARRYMORE Oh my god! See you learn something new everyday. I'm learning right along with the audience

DUVAL I mean it wasn't me, but it was my car <laughs>

About the Pontiac Firebired TransAm - Donnie Darko audio commentary FRAGMENT

This is right after Donnie tries to kiss Gretchen, and she wants to wait because 'right now there is some fat guy staring at us'

JAKE: There he is man

RICHARD: If anyone wants to know, this is one of the FAA guys. He's not a pervert...he might be a pervert, but he's one of the FAA guys. If you look at the opening and the end scenes he's there.

JAKE: Poetic repetition

RICHARD: They're so freaked out by the circumstances of this jet engine, how it could have fallen on this house. A massive number of people trying to figure it out, up in the highest levels of the government even....and they've got this guy from the FAA watching this kid, you know, following him.

Richard Kelly and Jake Gyllenhaal talk about the FAA guy - Audio Commentary FRAGMENT

Audio Commentary Track 2 : Richard Kelly, producers Nancy Juvonen and Sean McKittrick, and actors Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Jena Malone, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross, James Duval, and Beth Grant

KELLY This is...I'm so glad we got to get this shot...

DUVAL Yeah, I still got my eye

KELLY He's just dropped Elizabeth off and he's driven home... and he's just remembering...."I was a pawn in all of this, I was chosen to be a guide of some sort in all this"...he's just a kid

BARRYMORE And that's something you put in later

KELLY Yeah this is the one [..]

JUVONEN There's the mask I have in my house

DUVAL [..]The one shot re-shoot

BARRYMORE It's funny that to you tell your story one shot can mean so much

MCKITTRICK Well actually Rich wanted that, while we were shooting, we just couldn't possibly do it

About the metal mask in the Mad World scene - Commentary Track 2 - FRAGMENT

Commentary Track 1 : Richard Kelly and Jake Gyllenhaal

KELLY This was a re-shoot that we did, we couldn't get in time for Sundance, but I always wanted to get it. Where you see Frank, you know, the beginnings of the mask, that he has just molded and his Halloween costume he's putting together, and he's just gotten back from dropping of Elizabeth, and trying to remember, figure out what happened and he touches his eye. This metal mask here was a gift for Nancy Juvonen, we molded from metal, from the original rubber mask suit

About the metal mask in the Mad World scene - Commentary Track 1 - FRAGMENT

KELLY: He's laughing because for one of two reasons. He's laughing because

One, he thinks that it was all dream, he thinks that it was this long absurd dream and he's so relieved that it was just a dream and that everything is gonna be okay

Or he's laughing and he's smiling because he's enlightened, and he's meant to go out this way, and he's been given a vision that inspired him

And that horn honking is Frank, who is, suddenly they're remembering what had happened in the past 28 days, and he's saying like "get out of bed man, we did it, get out of bed". And he doesn't listen, or he doesn't hear, and it's too late.

The family is all there, and they're safe. What we are seeing in the 28 days were duplicate reality versions of all these people, the way I see it, now everyone is awakened from a dream and all that they remember from this other reality is buried there in their dreams

Donnie Darko audio commentary

Donnie laughing in bed - Audio Commentary

Richard Kelly explains to Kevin Smith how he sees the Tangent (or alternate) Universe

KELLY: "..the way I look at it is like a tree. The Primary Universe is the trunk of the tree and the Tangent Universe is like a branch. When you see the first chapter card here coming up [..] we put a graphic of a tree there, and the idea is that the branch eventually deviates so far away from the trunk that eventually it's gonna peter out and then snap off. And so somehow they gotta hurl this jet engine back to the trunk. But I think the idea is that a duplicate version of that jet engine somehow appears and, you know like you said like your earth 2 theory, that there are duplicate versions of maybe each human being that exist in the branch."

CelloDoor

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