50 Fun Facts About Donnie Darko

Who wrote and directed Donnie Darko, his debut feature?

He was 22 and fresh out of USC film school when the idea took shape in late 1997. He later made Southland Tales and The Box.

In which month and year is Donnie Darko set?

The Bush-Dukakis election plays in the background, and the story runs from October 2 to Halloween.

Donnie survives the accident at the start of the film because he was doing what?

A jet engine crashes into his bedroom while he is out on the golf course, and nobody can say where it came from.

What falls onto the Darko house?

Kelly built the whole story around that early image. Production designer Alex Hannold bought a real engine for $10,000.

Frank appears to Donnie wearing what costume?

James Duval wore the suit. Kelly recalled people pitching Easter Bunny designs; he wanted something far more sinister.

Exactly how long does Frank say remains until the world ends?

The numbers became fan lore. Filming itself also took exactly 28 days, and New York's Pioneer Theatre later ran midnight screenings for 28 months.

Who plays Elizabeth, the eldest Darko sibling?

Casting his real sister was Jake Gyllenhaal's idea. Daveigh Chase plays the younger sister, Samantha.

Donnie's girlfriend Gretchen Ross has moved to town under a new identity to escape whom?

Jena Malone plays her. At the Halloween party she turns up distraught because her mother has gone missing.

The book The Philosophy of Time Travel was written by which character?

A former science teacher now known to local teens as Grandma Death, forever checking her empty mailbox. Kelly based her on a woman from his Virginia hometown.

Who gives Donnie the copy of The Philosophy of Time Travel?

Noah Wyle plays him. Drew Barrymore's Karen Pomeroy is the English teacher who gets fired.

Patrick Swayze's Jim Cunningham is what?

Gym teacher Kitty Farmer builds her 'attitude lessons' on his Fear-versus-Love philosophy. Swayze frosted his hair for the part and shot the infomercials at his own ranch.

What do firefighters find in the burned remains of Cunningham's house?

Donnie set the fire on Frank's instruction. Cunningham is arrested and Kitty insists on testifying in his defence.

Kitty's decision to defend Cunningham means Rose Darko has to chaperone what?

Samantha's troupe Sparkle Motion is on the plane home when its engine is torn off and sent back in time.

Sparkle Motion, the little sister's dance troupe, performs to which song?

The other three all appear elsewhere on the soundtrack. Cinematographer Steven Poster used smoke to silhouette the girls on stage.

Donnie's psychotherapist believes his visions of Frank are 'daylight hallucinations' symptomatic of what?

Katharine Ross plays Dr. Thurman, who also puts Donnie under hypnosis.

The Halloween party at the Darko house celebrates Elizabeth's acceptance to which university?

With Rose in LA and Eddie away, the siblings throw the party; Gretchen and Donnie sleep together for the first time that night.

What is the real Frank's surname, revealed when he is unmasked as the driver?

Frank Anderson is Elizabeth's boyfriend, and he is driving the car that kills Gretchen while wearing the rabbit costume from the visions.

Where does Donnie shoot Frank?

It explains why the Frank of his visions had a hollow, bleeding eye. He uses his father's gun and carries Gretchen's body home.

Where does Frank first reveal his hollow, bleeding eye to Donnie?

Gretchen falls asleep beside Donnie on their cinema date when Frank appears.

The image that inspired the school flooding scene was a surreal photomontage of what?

The artist was Scott Mutter. The flooding gets the school closed and sets up the 'Head Over Heels' tracking shot.

Which star's company, Flower Films, agreed to produce Donnie Darko?

Barrymore also took the part of English teacher Karen Pomeroy, and the budget rose to $4.5 million.

What was Donnie Darko's production budget?

Kelly had struggled for years to get anyone to let him direct it himself before Pandora Cinema and Flower Films signed on in 2000.

Which actor was approached to play Donnie but insisted the character should have a lisp?

The role went to Jake Gyllenhaal, then known for October Sky.

Which famous director slid Kelly's script back and singled out Karen Pomeroy's line about clueless parents?

The line comes after she is fired: 'The kids have to figure it all out these days, because the parents, they don't have a clue.'

Where did Donnie Darko premiere in January 2001?

Us Weekly called it one of the festival's outstanding films, but distributors were wary and Newmarket eventually bought it.

Why was Donnie Darko barely advertised for its October 2001 release?

It made just $517,375 in its first run and $110,494 on opening weekend, ranking 34th.

Which New York cinema ran midnight screenings of Donnie Darko for 28 consecutive months?

The screenings began after the March 2002 video release and helped turn the flop into a cult phenomenon.

The film's UK release in October 2002 sold roughly how many tickets in its first six weeks?

It grossed the equivalent of $2.5 million there, and distributor Metrodome staged a 28-day art exhibition in Shoreditch called They Made Me Do It.

After reissues, roughly how much did Donnie Darko gross worldwide in cinemas?

It earned more than $10 million more in US home video sales, where the cult really took hold.

In which year was the Gary Jules and Michael Andrews cover of 'Mad World' the UK Christmas number one?

It spent three weeks at number one. Andrews composed the score; the original was Tears for Fears' first hit in 1982.

'Mad World' was originally a 1982 hit for which band?

Roland Orzabal wrote it and Curt Smith sang it; it reached number three in the UK. Their 'Head Over Heels' also features in the film.

The long tracking shot through the school that worried producers is set to which song?

The Tears for Fears track plays over slow-motion introductions to the whole school.

In the 2004 Director's Cut, which INXS song replaces the original opening music?

'The Killing Moon' moves to the scene where Donnie and Gretchen return from the party, and 'Under the Milky Way' shifts to a car ride.

Which author was censored from Karen Pomeroy's curriculum in the Director's Cut subplot?

The class had been reading his story 'The Destructors', which Kitty Farmer blames for the school flooding.

Which actor made his film debut in Donnie Darko as one of the school bullies?

He plays Ricky Danforth. Freaks and Geeks had aired the previous year.

Classroom and hallway scenes were shot at which Los Angeles institution?

The golf course was Virginia Country Club in Long Beach. Kelly wanted the look of a conservative Virginia suburb like the one he grew up in.

Kelly based Grandma Death on a real woman from his hometown of Midlothian, in which state?

She would stand by the road constantly opening and closing her mailbox. Kelly went on to USC film school from Midlothian High.

Where did Donnie Darko rank on Empire magazine's list of the 50 Greatest Independent Films of All Time?

It also placed 53rd in Empire's 500 Greatest Movies and won a Special Award at the 2002 Saturn Awards.

The 2009 straight-to-video sequel S. Darko followed which character?

Daveigh Chase reprised her role. Richard Kelly had no involvement, and it went straight to video.

Which distributor bought Donnie Darko after Sundance and released it in a service deal with IFC?

The same small distributor later handled Memento and The Passion of the Christ.

Kelly cited which 1972 animal novel as an inspiration for Frank?

Richard Adams's rabbit epic was also going to be taught in Karen's English class, a subplot restored in the director's cut.

Kelly based the film's ideas about alternate universes on which Stephen Hawking book?

Stephen Hawking's bestseller fed into the in-film text The Philosophy of Time Travel, which the director's cut DVD reproduces.

Kelly wrote the first draft of the script in how many days?

The same span as the story and the shoot. The draft ran 145 to 150 pages before he and producer Sean McKittrick trimmed it to 128.

Which actor agreed to play Donnie in early 2000, then dropped out over scheduling conflicts?

His agent had sent the script to Flower Films, and his casting made people 'come out of the woodwork' to back the project before he left.

Most of the film was shot in which California city, chosen for its suburban feel?

The golf course scenes used Virginia Country Club and the opening sunrise was shot on the Angeles Crest Highway.

Which Memento director and his wife Emma Thomas helped persuade the distributor to take the film?

Memento producer Aaron Ryder arranged a private screening for the executives, and Nolan suggested the date title cards that punctuate the film.

Which Echo & the Bunnymen song plays over the opening sequence of the theatrical cut?

In the director's cut it moves to Gretchen and Donnie's return to the party, displaced at the start by INXS.

The liquid 'spears' that lead characters around were inspired by the on-screen chalkboard of whom?

Fittingly, the spears first appear while Donnie is watching a football game on television.

When first shot, Sparkle Motion danced to which Pet Shop Boys song before rights fell through?

The replacement, a Duran Duran track, is the version fans know; the silhouetted staging was one of the hardest shots for cinematographer Steven Poster.

Kelly hired cinematographer Steven Poster partly because he had shot which 1987 Ridley Scott film?

Poster hadn't shot a feature in two years and took a reduced fee, but his Panavision connections landed the production a huge haul of equipment on the cheap.