“Chris and his wife, it was their idea to put the parenthetical beneath the title cards,” Kelly said. Kelly has often spoke about Christopher Nolan’s role in getting “Donnie Darko” released. Nolan and Thomas worked with former studio Newmarket on the production and distribution of their breakout indie hit “Memento,” and they attended a private screening of “Donnie Darko” for the Newmarket executives at a time when “Donnie Darko” was failing to find a distributor. The Newmarket team trusted Nolan and Thomas following the “Memento” release, so their thumbs up for “Donnie Darko” played an instrumental role in the film getting a theatrical release.
“When the lights came up, Chris and his wife both turned to the Newmarket executives, Chris Ball and Will Tyrer, and they both looked over at them and they nodded,” Kelly said. “They were like, ‘You guys should distribute this.’” Speaking to The Guardian in 2019, Kelly said on the matter, “Sometimes, the wind is at your back. Sometimes, it’s at your front. ‘Darko’ was a disaster at Sundance too. No one remembers that, but it was. I’m grateful for any rosy glow of hindsight. I remember it took us almost six months to sell the movie. It almost went directly to the Starz network. We had to beg them to put it in theaters. Christopher Nolan stepped in and convinced Newmarket to put it in theaters.” “Donnie Darko” opened in October 2001 and went on to become a cult classic and a key film in launching Jake Gyllenhaal’s career. Head over to The Ringer’s website to read the latest oral history on the film. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
