Donnie Darko
Film / 2001
We have created a lot of filmsites over the years, but alongside Requiem for a Dream, Donnie Darko is the one we are most often associated with. IFC approached us at a time when we had decided we should stop working on films for a while. What attracted us to Donnie Darko, was its narrative structure and the possibilities it offered for an online expansion. While the film plays over a period of 28 days, the site becomes the narrative’s prologue and epilogue and reflects the film’s puzzle-like structure in the way it is constructed and left open-ended...
The site was created for the Film Donnie Darko by first-time director Richard Kelly.The film plays over a 28 day period in a tangent (parallel universe) between 2 October and 30 October 1988.The site was designed to mirror this time and was launched in numerous phases from early October. The final phase was launched on 26 October 2001, which was the release date of the film in the US.The site does not give away anything about the film directly, but actually adds to the film, as the site portrays what happened in the primary universe, the world we all witnessed between 2/10/1988 and 30/10/1988 and afterwards. It follows the life of characters in the film and thereby adds to the story, rather than taking away or spoiling it (apart from one point-but we warn people before).The site branches out into various other sites which all give you bits of information and passwords which you need to be able to access the various levels in the site.
