Richard Kelly

Biography

James Richard Kelly (born 1975) is an American writer-director, best known for his debut feature, the science-fiction cult classic "Donnie Darko"(2001). Kelly was born in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Lane and Ennis Kelly. He won a scholarship to the University of Southern California to study at the USC School of Cinema-Television. He made two short films at USC, "The Goodbye Place" and "Visceral Matter", before graduating in 1997. "Donnie Darko" was his first feature and was nominated for 21 awards, winning 11 of them, including a nomination for a Saturn Award. The film later ended up #2 on Empire magazine's list of 50 greatest independent films of all time, behind Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs". Kelly wrote the screenplay for Tony Scott's biographical crime thriller "Domino" (2005), and went on to write and direct the postmodern L.A. satire "Southland Tales" (2006) and the science-fiction mystery "The Box" (2009), inspired by "The Twilight Zone" episode "Button, Button". Although his three films differ considerably in setting and characters, they share similar themes of time travel, existentialism, and spirituality. Kelly's particular filmmaking sensibilities can b…

Directed

1. Donnie Darko (2001) — Director
2. The Box (2009) — Director
3. Southland Tales (2007) — Director
4. The Goodbye Place (1996) — Director
5. Visceral Matter (1997) — Director
6. Corpus Christi — Director
7. Untitled Rod Serling Biopic — Director
8. Untitled Richard Kelly Film — Director

Also appeared in

1. Out of Print (2014) — Self
2. #1 Fan: A Darkomentary (2005) — Self
3. Deus ex Machina: The Philosophy of 'Donnie Darko' (2016) — Self
4. Vidéo Club (2018) — Self
5. USIDent TV: Surveilling the Southland (2008) — Self
6. It's a Madcap World: The Making of an Unfinished Film (2021) — Himself
7. Raging Bull: Reflections on a Classic (2011) — Self