Southland Tales (2006)

[Dave]

This looks promising. After 'Donnie Darko' I wondered what Richard Kelly would do next...

from SCIFI WIRE

Kelly Thinks Tales Is Funny

Richard Kelly, writer and director of the upcoming SF movie Southland Tales, told SCI FI Wire that the movie is about the end of the world. And it's a comedy.

"There's many other influences, but more than anything it's a comedy," Kelly (Donnie Darko) said in an interview on the film's Manhattan Beach, Calif., set last week. He added: "We wanted to try to make a film that's sort of conveying the feeling of frustration and unease, I guess, that a lot of my friends are feeling about a lot of things that are happening right now in the world and to sort of tell it in the most entertaining, fun way possible."

The film stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Seann William Scott and Sarah Michelle Gellar, among a cast of dozens, as Los Angeles residents caught up in events on the verge of the apocalypse in 2008.

"It's really, really, really complicated," Kelly said. "In a way that is sort of intentional, because if you look at our ... metaphor, ... it's a metaphor for the situation that ... our country is in right now. ... To make a movie about that and to try to oversimplify it or to try to sort of say it's ... all about one thing would sort of be the wrong way to go about it. ... You're kind of trying to make a piece of social satire. ... I think that we've been very careful with this film to try to create a really elaborate tapestry. ... It's much bigger than Darko. It's much more elaborate, but at the same time it's different in that this is much more of a comedy."

Southland Tales also draws from a wide variety of pop culture as its influences, Kelly said. "I think it's a time capsule," he said. "Some of the big influences clearly are Philip K. Dick, film noir, certain musicals, ... and maybe a bit of [Kurt] Vonnegut, too. We create near futures that don't exist, ... a speculative, alternate future as a way of kind of speculating on where we're going. And it's clearly an exaggerated future ... at some levels, and that's kind of what we're doing. But it's still grounded in reality."

Southland Tales is currently in production with an eye to a release sometime next year.

Philip K Dick and Kurt Vonnegut influences and more alternative timelines!

from SCIFI WIRE

Rock Reveals Southland Tales

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who stars in Richard Kelly's upcoming SF apocalypse movie Southland Tales, revealed to SCI FI Wire a few details about his role as Boxer Santaros, an action-movie star with amnesia, and the movie set in a near-future Los Angeles on the eve of the end of the world. "It's realistic, and it's a love letter to Los Angeles, and I think it could be a ***** slap as well," Johnson said in an interview on the film's set in Manhattan Beach, Calif., on Sept. 16.

Southland Tales, written and directed by Kelly (Donnie Darko), stars Johnson, Seann William Scott and Sarah Michelle Gellar, in a wide-ranging and complex story that mixes music, comedy, drama, science fiction and a little time travel, Johnson said.

Johnson's Santaros, a half-black, half-Samoan actor, has forgotten the past two years. He's in a ride-along with Scott's character, a police officer, and has a girfriend, porn actress and entrepreneur Krysta Now, played by Gellar. And he's written a script, which he begins to see unfold in the events around him, Johnson said. Johnson appeared wearing nearly full-body tattoos under his white tank-top shirt: some his own, mixing Samoan and other ethnic imagery; some featuring religious symbols, including a Star of David around his navel and a life-size image of Jesus' face on his back.

"[Santaros] has forgotten ... the past two years," Johnson said. "He doesn't remember that he's married to the senator's wife [played by Mandy Moore]. He doesn't ... know that he's ... this big movie star. ... There are many, many times where his schizophrenia kicks in, and he starts to hear voices, and the voices talk to Boxer, and all that comes out."

Johnson added: "His relationship with Seann is, [he's] doing research for a role. ... There's a screenplay that Boxer writes, which he wants to direct as well, and he is doing some film research. And Seann is a Los Angeles cop, and I go on a ride-along essentially with him and things ensue. ... And my relationship with Sarah is ... Sarah is the one person in my life who I feel like I can trust, and when I come ... out of my amnesia state, ... she's there." Southland Tales is currently in production for release sometime in 2006; it is currently seeking a U.S. distributor.

And a main character who may or may not be have mental problems. Remind you of anything else?

[Dave]

There is an interview with Sarah Michelle Gellar here: http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/southland3.php

Is this enough to bring Markpud back to AsciFi?