As expected, Richard Kelly, the man behind Donnie Darko, was on hand at San Diego Comic Con to talk about his maligned, too long in the coming picture, Southland Tales. Last week we finally found out the release date for the picture, November 9th. At Comic Con Kelly had a new poster to sign and some news about the changes that have been made since the film’s critical bashing at last year’s Cannes.
Kelly told Sci Fi Wire that a lot of changes have been made to the order of scenes, restructuring part of the scenes. Justin Timberlake’s voice over was completely re-recorded, added 90 new visual shots, and trimmed 20-25 minutes off the picture.
The movie is listed as starring Dwayne Johnson (no longer “The Rock” in his listing), Seann William Scott, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Mandy Moore, who is supposed to play Johnson’s wife, isn’t being promoted in advertising, reinforcing her concerns a month ago of being edited out of the picture. Sorry Mandy. Maybe you’ll be on the DVD.
The poster (on the right – image from JoBlo) doesn’t reveal anything more about the apocalyptic picture, maintaining its less-is-more advertising approach.
As a huge fan of Donnie Darko I’ve been waiting for Southland Tales with much anticipation, despite the lashing it got at Cannes. I can’t wait for its new November 9th release date. Meanwhile Kelly will go on to work on The Box with Cameron Diaz, which starts filming later this year.
