Donnie Darko Where Are They Now? We take a look back to see what happened to the cast and filmmakers behind this modern cult classic.
Read our Donnie Darko Where Are They Now feature below.
Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Can you believe it’s been fifteen years since we were first introduced to Donnie Darko? Released back in 2001, the film told of eponymous eighties teenager Donnie whose life starts to unravel after a visit from a time-travelling giant rabbit named Frank. Donnie Darko is a mind-bending movie that has since amassed a substantial cult following over the years.
To mark the special Birthday, Arrow Films are releasing a special edition version of the film. When we say special, we mean really genuinely special. The new release not only features new content in the shape of interviews etc., but also a 4K restoration of the movie itself. This painstaking upgrade was overseen by both director Richard Kelly and Darko’s cinematographer, Steven Poster; so you know it’s going to look pretty damn awesome.
The film put both actor Jake Gyllenhaal and director Richard Kelly on the map. Time is a fickle friend though and, whilst one of the power duo has soared, the other has all but vanished. With that in mind we’ve compiled this look into where the cast and crew are now.
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Although he was already familiar to many from his time on Freaks and Geeks, Donnie Darko marked the feature film debut for Seth Rogen. In the film he plays one half of the obnoxious bully duo, the other played by Phantom Planet lead singer Alex Greenwald. His character is thoroughly despicable and is best remembered for heckling Gretchen about her murderous step-father. Since his small supporting role on Darko, Rogen has gone on to much more central roles in the likes of Knocked Up, Green Hornet and Bad Neighbours. Not content merely acting, Rogen has also taken up both producing and directing, and through his work on the likes of Pineapple Express, This is the End and The Night Before, he has become the unofficial King of the stoners.
Holmes Osborne
Holmes Osbourne // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Holmes Osborne played Donnie’s father Eddie, the man playing piggy in the middle between his son and wife. His character ranks up there with the likes of Jim’s Dad as one of movie world’s cringe-inducing, but cool, fathers. Since Darko, Osborne has been consistently working as a supporting actor in various TV and film projects. He’s also sure to turn up in director Richard Kelly‘s next project (should there be a next one) as he’s starred in all of his movies thus far.
Mary McDonnell
Mary McDonnell // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Pre-Donnie Darko, Mary McDonnell earned herself two Oscar nominations (Dances with Wolves and Passion Fish). This made her an easy choice to play Donnie’s ‘bitchin’ mom Rose; the strong matriarch of the Darko household. She followed that strong film role with a very strong body of television. She has since appeared on E.R, Grey’s Anatomy, The Closer, Battlestar Galactica, and most recently, Major Crimes.
Jolene Purdy
Jolene Purdy // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Cherita Chen is the tormented immigrant living in Donnie’s hometown. She’s the victim of vicious bullies who constantly tell her to ‘go back to China bitch’. Her story is achingly sad and one of the films best moments is when her crush, Donnie, tries to help her. Post Darko, actress Jolene Purdy didn’t go back to China (she’s actually from California), but did end up Under the Dome for a couple of years. Most recently she’s been in the mega smash Netflix show Orange is the New Black wherein she plays Hapakuka.
James Duval
James Duval // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Out of all of the cast James Duval is definitely one of the hardest working. A quick search on IMDB reveals over 123 credits, the majority coming post Donnie Darko. Not that you’d recognise him though, Duval spending the bulk of his screen time disguised by that epic twisted bunny rabbit costume. That rabbit suit is pretty iconic and sadly might just be more famous than the actor who inhabited it; fame is definitely a fickle beast.
Noah Wyle
Noah Wyle // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Actor Noah Wyle took time out from his work on ER to play Professor Monnitoff, Donnie’s high school psychics teacher. Along with Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze he was one of the big name stars on the billing block. He returned to the fictional world of medicine once his teaching duties were completed, remaining with E.R to the bitter end in 2009. Since then he’s stayed within the television realm starring in five seasons of alien apocalypse drama Falling Skies. He is currently on the small screen in the third series of The Librarians.
Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
She’s been acting since she way barely out of nappies and shot to childhood fame thanks to her Godfather, Steven Spielberg, casting her in E.T. In addition to starring in Donnie Darko, wherein she play teacher Ms. Pomeroy, she also acted as producer. In fact director Richard Kelly credits Barrymore as saving the film from a direct to DVD / TV release. Since then Barrymore has continued producing and has even tried her hand at directing too, with Whip It. She looks set to step back in front of the camera on a more permanent basis with her new television series Santa Clarita Diet.
Richard Kelly
Richard Kelly // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Donnie Darko was Richard Kelly‘s first stab at directing a feature film. With it he became an instant success and everyone in Hollywood was clamouring to work with him. Unfortunately his follow-ups didn’t quite land in the same way. His current directorial whereabouts are unknown.
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Maggie Gyllenhaal // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Director Richard Kelly was at a loss as who to cast at Donnie’s older sister Elizabeth until he found out that his lead’s sister also acted. Who better to play our lead character’s sister than the lead actor’s real life sister? The Gyllenhaal siblings relationship translated perfectly onto the screen and actress Maggie Gyellenhaal garnered as much attention as her younger brother Jake. In addition to being Donnie’s older, heavily political sister, Elizabeth is also Frank’s girlfriend. After Donnie Darko she went on to star in cult sensation Secretary as well as replacing Katie Holmes as Batman’s childhood sweetheart Rachel in The Dark Knight. Recently Gyllenhaal has switched things up and has ventured into the television world starring in The Honourable Woman. She’ll next be seen again on TV in The Deuce, a show about porn and prostitution in the 70’s and 80’s, alongside James Franco.
Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
We’d love to tell you that Patrick Swayze is still alive and kicking, producing a steady stream of cinematic cult masterpieces. Sadly we can’t as the actor lost his fight with cancer in 2009. Thankfully he left behind a plethora of brilliant movies which of course includes his turn as Jim Cunningham in Donnie Darko. It was an exceptionally brave choice for the actor as the character has a rather dark and disturbing secret, but the decision worked out beautifully and showed those that thought of him as just an action-movie meathead, that he had plenty of acting skills.
Jena Malone
Jenna Malone // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Gretchen Ross is the new girl in town, and takes an instant shine to Donnie. The pair soon start ‘going together’, but then tragedy strikes and Donnie literally reorders time to save the girl he loves. Unlike Gretchen, Malone definitely doesn’t have tragedy in her blood. Granted she seems drawn to darker characters and subject matter, but she’s been consistently working since Donnie Darko. She’s had roles in Sucker Punch, Neon Demon, and that little known young adult film franchise, The Hunger Games. She also appeared in Batman Versus Superman, though you’ll only see her if you watch the extended cut as sadly her role was chopped from the weighty run time for the theatrical release. Most recently she popped up in a small role in Nocturnal Animals which also stars Jake Gyllenhaal. A pseudo-reunion for the lovebirds, though they disappointingly share no screen time.
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal // Donnie Darko Where Are They Now
Donnie Darko is the hero of the film. A teenager who suffers from emotional problems, Donnie finds the weight of the world on his shoulders as he discovers that the world will end in twenty-eight days. It’s a brilliant movie role that any young actor would kill for, but the role went to relative newcomer Jake Gyllenhaal.
His turn as the troubled teen saw Gyllenhaal sky-rocket from unknown to hot-new-thing. He has since become somewhat of a chameleon; he went from the quirky and cult classic Darko to disaster flick The Day after Tomorrow, to Oscar friendly Brokeback Mountain. Then he hit a slump and for a while and it looked likely that he might disappear into obscurity as he chose to make lacklustre rom coms (Love and Other Drugs) and the dodgy console game turned action movie, The Prince of Persia. Thankfully he came to his senses and went back to making films that he really cared about, and the last couple of years have seen him really start to shine. Nightcrawler, Nocturnal Animals, Demolition, Southpaw and Prisoners all highlight him at his absolute best. He continues to go from strength to strength and will next be seen in Boston Marathon drama Stronger, and Wildlife, which is directed by fellow actor Paul Dano.
Donnie Darko arrives on 4K special edition DVD and Blu-ray on December 12th 2016. The film also gets a small theatrical run to commemorate the anniversary from Friday 23rd December.
