To say that Cannes audiences didn’t respond well to Richard Kelly’s film Southland Tales would be a huge understatement. They booed, hissed, stampeded, and acted like someone murdered their firstborn and then for the heck of it, also killed their dog. The much-anticipated yet critically-bashed followup to the brilliant cult classic Donnie Darko looked like it may never reach theaters. But lo and behold, never say never.
According to Hollywood Reporter, it’s Sony Pictures to the rescue. They have picked up the domestic rights to Kelly’s 160 (!) minute epic starring “The Rock”, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Sean William Scott. Needless to say, the film will be spending a lot of time being sliced and diced in the editing room. As Kelly said, "Potentially it could be shown with almost an hour of it missing. I don't quite know what [the resulting] film is." Alas, there’s always the director’s DVD cut to express his original vision.
Southland Tales is set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles circa 2008, and is said to be a mix of comedy, sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, and musicals. It’s also rumored to be an overlong mess, but hopefully a solid editor will spare Kelly from a damaging, disappointing sophomore slump.
