Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 4K film restoration of director Richard Kelly’s 2001 mixed-genre gem, Donnie Darko, will be makings its 4K Ultra HD debut on Apr. 27 as a double-disc product offering.
Because Donnie Darko’s (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) 28-day adventure is so strange; so bizarre, those that expressed some distribution interest in this wholly independent production after seeing it at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2021, got locked into cable and direct to video avenues. It took visionary filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his wife, Emma Thomas, to rescue Kelly’s film and get it into theatres — along with input on fine-tuning the final product.
If not for this, Donnie Darko might have just been a film festival curiosity and not the landmark film that it has become in the decade since its initial release.
As to the 4K Ultra HD edition that Arrow Video will be releasing on Apr. 27, the double-disc presentation includes both the original theatrical cut and the 2004 “director’s cut” (clocking in at an extra 21 minutes) … both are new 4K restorations from the original camera negatives (supervised by filmmaker Richard Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster).
As to bonus goodies, the theatrical cut features two commentary options, one featuring Richard Kelly and Donnie Darko himself, Jake Gyllenhaal, and the second teaming Richard Kelly, producer Sean McKittrick and cast members Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, Beth Grant, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Katharine Ross and James Duval.
Additionally, there is director Daniel Griffith’s 2016 feature-length documentary titled Deus ex Machina: The Philosophy of Donnie Darko and Richard Kelly’s 1996 short film titled The Goodbye Place … and some 20 deleted and/or alternate scenes (with commentary by Kelly).
Bonus features included with the “director’s cut” disc include a commentary option with director Richard Kelly and fellow filmmaker Kevin Smith, the “Donnie Darko Production Diary,” archived interviews with cast, producing and crew members and three vintage featurettes — “They Made Me Do It,” “They Made Me Do It Too” and “#1 Fan: A Darkomentary.”
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