Richard Kelly recalls working with the Rock and Justin Timberlake on his sci-fi cult classic.
Instead, Kelly doubled down on the weirdness and madeSouthland Tales.
But likeDonnie Darko, Kelly’s sophomore movie has acquired devoted fans over time.
Credit: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
“It is an unfinished, work-in-progress version of the film.
Below, Kelly talks about working with his remarkableSouthland Talescast and the hopes he has for a follow-up movie.
When I met wIth Dwayne, it was just an immediate connection.
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
It was just this wonderful connection.
I’d seen him in the wrestling ring and seen a few of his movies.
I just knew that he could do an incredible job.
Yeah, it was a real gift to get Dwayne.
I was trying to keep the roller coaster on its tracks, you know.
It was just the wildest and intense movie set to be on.
And it was also just the most fun I’ve ever had in my entire life.
It was high-anxiety fun, you know.
The whole thing was this crazy whirlwind.
We had him for one 16-hour day.
Everyone was starting to strategize.
“Okay, how can we cut this together?”
“How can we send it to the Killers?”
“How can we get in touch with their management?”
“We really have to get this song!”
We had done one take without Justin lip-syncing to any song, just as a cover.
So that was a very risky moment, but it worked out.
It was exciting to see the risk pay off.
How often did Jon Lovitz ask, “What the f— is going on here?
It’s like that for all my movies really.
I think he was a little excited, a little nervous, to dye his hair blonde.
I don’t think he’d ever done that before.
With each character, there was a back story that we worked on.
His character is madly in love with Cheri Oteri’s character, Zora Carmichaels.
[Laughs] These kinds of backstories were worked in for every character.
I read an interview with you from around a year ago where you talked about doing anotherSouthland Talesmovie.
Is that still your plan?Yes.
I’ve been working on a new screenplay.
There were these three graphic novels that were published 15 years ago, when the movie came out.
The existing movie is divided into chapters 4, 5, and 6.
There is a chapter 1, 2, and 3.
I’m not going to ever give up on it.
We’ll see what happens.
Would this involve Dwayne?
[Laughs] That’s a whole other discussion that I’m not able to completely address.
It’s just a question of, is there a way to figure that out?
I certainly hope so.
