Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 7:05AM Richard Kelly Heading to 'Corpus Christi'
I think as time goes on, I'm increasingly in the minority when I count myself as a pretty big Richard Kelly fan. Sure, everybody seems to have a soft spot for Donnie Darko, but his follow-up film, Southland Tales, was pretty widely hated (I've never met anybody other than myself who likes that one), and The Box seemed to be largely overlooked. That was probably at least partially as a result of Southland Tales being such a bomb.
Everyone looks cooler on a giant projection screen.So the question is, will people give Kelly's next project much of a chance? One way he's trying to make that a possibility is to go with a more straightforward tale than what we're used to seeing from him, according to Variety. Kelly's next film—which, as per usual, he'll write and direct—will be called Corpus Christi. Keep reading to get an idea of what it'll be about.
Corpus Christi will be Kelly's first "film without heavy sci-fi or metaphysical elements," and will be "a departure into a more traditional narrative," as Variety puts it. Here's the synopsis:
The Texas-set story concerns a mentally unstable Iraq war veteran named Paciencia "Patience" De La Rosa, who forges a strange friendship with his boss Ralph Salverson, the wealthy and politically ambitious owner of a supermarket chain.
Sounds fairly interesting, though we're of course pretty light on details so far.
Filming is set to begin in July, and casting is currently underway. We should hear something about who'll be portraying "Patience" and Salverson before the end of March, so we'll be sure to keep you updated.
Does the idea of Richard Kelly doing a down-to-earth movie appeal to you? Personally I'm in the "whatever he does, I'll watch" camp, but I'm holding out some reservations because part of the reason I feel that way is because the 3 features Kelly has done so far have been so damn unique. I have a healthy respect for any writer-director willing to take as big of chances as he's done, but at the same time I have to respect the guy for trying to go a bit more mainstream, too. I'm intrigued to find out more about what he's come up with.
Reader Comments (7)
I wanted to love Southland Tales so much, that I did, but I didn't like the ending, which I probably should have seen this "you come up with the ending" coming as it is similar to Donnie, but I just could barely stomach it because I wanted it to take me somewhere so bad. I loved The Box though.
As for your question, I'd say that I am not as excited about it due to the lack of sci-fi, but it only says "without heavy" not "without any" so I'm hoping there will be some crazy twists and turns. I'm sure I'll watch it, but I'll never be as pumped as I was for Southland with any of his films again. Sad really.
If you can think of "Southland Tales" as an apocalyptic soap-opera, it can be appreciated. It would have helped too if it came out BEFORE the Iraq invasion and we would hail the movie as prophetic. As it is it's sort of an oddball, zeitgiest, millennial movie from an odball millennial. Kelly's "brand" is that - a director of his generation, and a very mature one so soon. Fankly I'm glad to see he's taking the "Aronovsky route" and doing something that's a little outside of "The Box" he's established for himself so far. Maybe it'll free him of the indulgences he's found himself stuck in (like that movie). Now if Shayamalan could do the same it would give me some hope about the most prominent directors of their generation, so far.
I loved Southland Tales! Im pretty sure in the only one who cared enough to buy it in Blu Ray...O_O
I have it on Blu-ray too, P. Glad to hear I'm not the only one!
Yeah, but the die-hard fans have the graphic novels that make up the backstory.
Southland Tales was the most pathetic, pretentious, stupid guy trying to make an intilectual movie, bulls#!t that I've ever seen. But Donnie Darko is genius! So the saying of"There's a thin line between genius and insanity" shows itself in full effect with Richard Kelly and every movie he makes. The Box was one that fell right in the middle of that spectrum though due to a very interesting idea, yet a horrible cast. And that's where i think Kelly's biggest flaw is, his CASTING!!! Cameron Diaz and that accent was the worst thing i'd heard since DiCaprio trying to master a South African accent in Blood Diamond. And the male lead doesn't even deserve to have his name mentioned for that pathetic attempt at acting in that movie. The one thing i just can't understand is, how if you're able to pay for Diaz's crazy salary, why wouldn't you just save all that watred dough and go out and get two great ACTORS, not names, actors, at that same price who actually have a little chemistry together? Huh? A good idea?
Now, I hope that Kelly can find his magic again with this new one. Every director goes through high points and lows, mainly due to them getting big heads and trying to be too creative, or going to pet projects after their first sucesses, two things Kelly has already done with only three movies under his belt, but it's the great directors that are able to eventually find their rythym and create quality, interesting movies every time out. And i hope Kelly can eventually get to that point because he is a very passionate director with interesting ideas that i think if he opens himself up to allow others to help and influence his work, he might be able to make some amazing movies. One man's ideas create masterpieces, but a worlds ideas create legends. Be a legend Kelly, please. There are enough pretentious A-holes in Hollywood already.
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