Donnie Darko is of course one of Eric Q. Grimes' favorite movies of all time, which in and of itself should be internationally know trivia for the picture. But seeing as Richard Kelly has never worked with William H. Macey (triviaaaaaa!), it's of little surprise that he ignores our good friend Eric. Anyways it's in the spirit of ignoring Grimes that the inaugural launch of "Awesome" is dedicated to that funny little ginger.
Donnie Darko (2001)
- The movie was shot in 28 days, exactly the time-span of the movie itself, on a budget of under US$5 million.
- In the scene at the house party someone is shown jumping on a trampoline, wearing a Ronald Reagan mask. This is taken from a photo of the journalist Hunter S. Thompson wearing a Reagan mask while jumping on a trampoline.
- In the film Donnie refers to "Married with Children" (1987) and, more specifically, Christina Applegate during conversations about sex with his therapist. The script initially called for Donnie's fantasies to be about Alyssa Milano. This had to be changed however when Richard Kelly was denied the legal rights to reference her in this manner.
- In the theater scene, Richard Kelly originally intended to have Donnie and Gretchen going to see C.H.U.D. (1984). However, there were problems with finding out who owned the rights to the movie. Finally, Sam Raimi came to the rescue by allowing Kelly to use and distort footage from The Evil Dead (1981), free of charge.
- Noah Wyle's character, Prof. Kenneth Monnitoff, is seen eating hard candy in some scenes because Wyle decided his character would be diabetic.
- Richard Kelly's original choice for the music to be played over the final sequence was 'U2''s "MLK." After difficulties obtaining the rights to the song, it was decided to use Gary Jules' cover of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World" instead.
- Richard Kelly originally wanted Tim Robbins to play the part of Donnie's father.
- The original poster art for the movie had been using an Arabic-style font, but this was changed to the much more standard Times New Roman boldface font for the video release after the terrorist attacks on the USA of 11 September 2001. The title remains in the same style in the film, though.
- Jason Schwartzman was replaced by Jake Gyllenhaal, due to Schwartzman's scheduling conflicts.
- Director Richard Kelly modeled the tone of the film after Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962). Elizabeth Darko (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is even dressed as Vivian Darkbloom (Marianne Stone) from Lolita at the Halloween party.
- One of the deleted scenes involves Donnie's English class discussing Richard Adams's novel Watership Down (1978), the plot of which involves a rabbit who prophesies the impending destruction of the rabbit warren. This scene was later included in the actual feature when the director's cut of the movie was released on DVD.
- During the open shots of the Halloween Party shown later in the film, in the background the sound of a wolf howling can be heard. It is the howl of the werewolf from An American Werewolf in London (1981).
- When Donnie's mother is calling to say how they'll be on the red-eye flight, the airport announcement in the background says that Flight 2806 is boarding at gate 42 and leaving at 12 AM. Presumably this is the flight they're taking, and also a reference to the 28:06:42:12 countdown that Frank gives Donnie.
- There are 28 scenes in the director's cut of the film. (Frank says the world will end in 28 days 06 hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds)
- The movie takes place in 1988. Frank tells Donnie the world will end in 28 days, 06 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. If you add these numbers, the sum is 88. When Samantha asks when she can have kids, Donnie says: "Not until 8th grade." Donnie mentions to his therapist that his dog Callie died when he was eight. (He is later seen holding a stuffed toy dog in her office.) According to the television reporter, the fire at Jim Cunningham's house was extinguished "sometime after 8:00 last night." The climax of Donnie Darko occurs one week before the 1988 US presidential election. George Bush was elected on November 8, 1988 [11/08/88].
- The scene where Donnie corrects Gretchen was improvised because the actress could not say the word.
- The shot of the bike ride to Grandma Death's house is an homage to Steven Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), in which, Drew Barrymore also starred.
- The first scene in the movie is an homage to Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). The same movie is also labeled as showing at the movie theater.
- Jim Cunningham [The Swayze] depicts drugs, alcohol, and premarital sex as "instruments of fear." In the movie, Donnie smokes a cigarette, drinks alcohol, and engages in premarital sex. The climax of the movie occurs after he surrenders to all three temptations.
- When Donnie tells Gretchen he accidentally burned down a house, they are walking directly in front of Jim Cunningham's house. The Life Line Exercise Card that Donnie reads is about a girl finding a lost wallet. Later, Donnie finds Jim Cunningham's wallet on the sidewalk outside his mansion.
- In the "Cunning Visions" infomercial, Jim Cunningham pats a child on his behind. The young boy who wants to learn how to fight at the school assembly is the same boy in Jim Cunningham's infomercial (Larry Riesman).
- The film Donnie Darko and Stephen King's It (1990) (TV) both feature a knife-wielding bully. The primary bully is named Seth Devlin. His surname is a reference to the devil. A sticker inside Seth Devlin's locker reads: "What would Satan do?"
- According to the director's commentary, the book which Eddie Darko is reading in bed is Stephen King's "The Tommyknockers", the cover of which "some bastard stole from the set". Earlier in the film, Eddie's wife Rose is reading King's "It".
- Donnie mentions the DeLorean car, which was used for time travel in Back to the Future (1985). In that film the DeLorean had to reach a speed of 88 mph to travel in time.
- Rose Darko is reading the Stephen King book "It". In the book, children in a small town are terrorized by a clown. Later in the film, we see an encounter between Donnie and a clown.
- The dance performance in the movie is actually performed to "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys (Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe). Due to budgetary constraints, however, the song had to replaced by Duran Duran's "Notorious" in post-production.
- When casting for the role of Donnie's sister, it came to Richard Kelly's attention that Maggie Gyllenhaal (who had few film credits at the time) would be available for the shoot. The agent who proposed her casting reminded Kelly of her scene in Cecil B. DeMented (2000), where she drank urine. Though Kelly was slightly hesitant towards the idea, he did like the way she drank urine--and knew he wouldn't have to work hard at creating a sibling rivalry between her and her brother, star Jake Gyllenhaal.
- The song that plays as Donnie is riding his bike home in the theatrical version is "The Killing Moon" by Echo & The Bunnymen. As Gretchen waits for the school bus, a Volkswagen Rabbit vehicle quickly passes in front of her. When Elizabeth Darko is sleeping on the recliner, there is a stuffed rabbit next to her. As Donnie reaches for the car keys, there is a Polaroid picture of him and his sister in Halloween costumes on the desk. Donnie is dressed as a rabbit. When Donnie is talking to his sister after his mom leaves near the end, a "jack o lantern" bunny is seen on the table. Frank, the rabbit, often appears near a water source (sprinklers, water main, faucet).
- The words "Cellar Door" are written on the chalkboard in Karen Pommeroy's classroom. When Donnie asks about their meaning, she replies that "This famous linguist once said that of all the phrases in the English language, of all the endless combinations of words in all of history, that Cellar Door is the most beautiful." In the director's commentary Richard Kelly mistakenly attributes the phrase to Edgar Allan Poe, but it was actually J.R.R. Tolkien who, in his 1955 essay "English and Welsh", said that "Most English-speaking people . . . will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful."
- Newmarket Films, the movie's US distributor, approached Richard Kelly about doing a director's cut. He accepted the offer and did the re-edit with editor Sam Bauer in a swift nine days. Comparably, it would take him a full 5 years before he was ready to step behind the camera again to film the universally panned "Southland Tales".
- Richard Kelly received only $9,000 to write and direct Donnie Darko which had a budget of 4.5 million dollars.
- The character Karen Pomeroy's name is a reference to Wardell B. Pomeroy, a sex researcher at the Kinsey Institute.
- Seth Rogen's feature film debut.
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