Lady Gaga Explains Donnie Darko’s Cult Following To Jake Gyllenhaal

In Variety‘s latest Actors on Actors discussion, Lady Gaga explains Donnie Darko‘s cult following to Jake Gyllenhaal in the fashion and music worlds. Written and directed by Richard Kelly, the sci-fi psychological thriller centers on the titular teenager as he narrowly survives an accident in which a plane engine crashes into his bedroom from an aircraft that can’t be found. The story then chronicles the following weeks of his life as Donnie begins having visions of a figure in a disturbing rabbit costume named Frank who manipulates Donnie to commit multiple crimes while also revealing the world will end in 28 days.

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Gyllenhaal led the cast of Donnie Darko in the titular role alongside Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle, Stu Stone, Daveigh Chase and James Duval. The film was a commercial failure upon its release in 2001, having only grossed $517,375 in its short run, largely cited to the film’s marketing including an aircraft-involved accident on the heels of the September 11 attacks in the United States. Despite this initial failure, Donnie Darko would receive largely positive reviews from critics and garner a major cult following upon its home release, ultimately grossing another $500,000 in initial sales and later hauling in an additional $7.5 million with reissues over the years.

The latest episode of Variety‘s Actors on Actors series sees Lady Gaga and Jake Gyllenhaal sit down for a discussion on their respective careers. In looking at what movies inspire the two, Gaga cited Donnie Darko as one she’s watched many times and explained the movie’s cult following in the music and fashion industries to Gyllenhaal. See what Gaga said below:

“Also Donnie Darko [was a big inspiration for me], I’m not gonna lie. I don’t want to lie to you and tell you I haven’t seen it so many times. In the world of music and also fashion, Donnie Darko is religion, it really is. I don’t mean to be illustrative, it really is. If you know your sh-t, you know Donnie Darko.”

Though the film was a financial failure, Donnie Darko marked an important milestone in Gyllenhaal’s career as it was his second leading role, coming fresh off the heels of his breakout role in October Sky. Gyllenhaal would receive rave reviews for his performance in Richard Kelly’s cult classic film and slowly begin branching out in other independent genre fare, including the well-received The Good Girl with Jennifer Aniston, before landing more high-profile work in Roland Emmerich’s The Day After Tomorrow and nearly replacing Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 due to the original star’s health concerns, as well as nearly landing the role of Batman for Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. The decades since have seen Gyllenhaal go on to become a Hollywood A-list star, landing an Oscar nomination for his performance in Brokeback Mountain and Golden Globe nods for his turns in Love & Other Drugs and Nightcrawler.

As Gaga indicates in her discussion, Donnie Darko‘s cult following is a fervent and expansive one, with her note of it being a major staple in the music industry making sense as its soundtrack is one of the most-remembered elements of the film, namely that of Gary Jules’ “Mad World” cover. This cult following has extended past the original film to Kelly’s follow-up efforts, Southland Tales and The Box, the former of which received a remastered home release last year and he has teased could get future installments alongside a proper Donnie Darko sequel. In the meantime, audiences can revisit the original Donnie Darko streaming on The Roku Channel for free.

Source: Variety

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