DARKO's Kelly talks THE BOX

Donnie Darko and Southland Tales director Richard Kelly writes on his Myspace blog that he has now completed his next film, The Box, for a Halloween release.

Based on Richard Matheson's classic short story Button, Button, the film stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as a couple coping with financial distress when a mysterious strange (Frank Langella) comes into their lives and gives them a box and makes them an offer - push the button and they'll become rich, but a stranger will die. Some of our Gen-X readers will remember that the story was previously adapted for an episode of the 1980's anthology TV series, The New Twilight Zone.

Kelly says that the film wrapped shooting last year, and since then he's been working on 300 visual effects shots - which sounds like a lot, given that the premise of the film would hardly seem to demand a lot of fantastic imagery. Following the commercial and critical debacle that was Southland Tales, Kelly badly needs a success. He writes that this film is his most personal yet, and will include an 80-plus minute score by Arcade Fire's Win Butler and Regine Chassagne, collaborating with Owen Pallett.