Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly is 'haunted' by movie and hasn't made new film in 17 years

He was the creative genius behind one of the greatest cult films of the 21st century – but what ever happened to Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly?

After penning the script at the tender age of 23, Kelly shot the film, which follows Jake Gyllenhaal's Donnie as he experiences a series of strange encounters with a mysterious man in a rabbit costume, just two years later and was 26 when Donnie Darko debuted in 2001.

While the film wasn't an initial box-office success, the inclusion of an aeroplane accident so soon after 9/11 made it difficult for many Americans, but it has since grown to be a cult phenomenon, thanks to its mind-bending storytelling.

However, Donnie Darko's success hasn't translated into a long-term Hollywood career for Kelly, with the director even saying the film had 'haunted' his career at one point.

Richard Kelly is best known for his feature length debut, Donnie Darko (Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

Reflecting on Donnie Darko's legacy in an interview with Rue Morgue earlier this year, Kelly admitted that being able to create a piece of work which was 'very ambitious and aggressively complicated' right at the start of his career has meant that he's struggled to find a project of the same calibre since.

"Because Donnie Darko was the first thing out of the gate for me, it sort of set this benchmark," he explained.

"I’m a bit haunted by it in a way because I just... I don’t want to make something that feels like it’s not at least aspiring to that level of ambition and complexity."

Kelly has gone on to write and direct two further films since Donnie Darko: Southland Tales in 2006 and The Box in 2009, the latter of which received a poor commercial and critical response.

However he has since noted that it's been hard to live up to the film's reputation (Newmarket Films)

17 years on from his last directorial project, Kelly noted that he would've most likely made more films if he'd 'pursued simpler projects'.

"I’m not in any way criticising simple," he added. "There’s nothing wrong at all with simple done in a smart, great way, which is beautiful in its own right and takes a huge amount of skill.

"But, for me, there’s something about creating stories that have a lot of layers and a lot of ideas that’s just really stimulating and interesting."

Kelly with Donnie Darko actor, Jake Gyllenhaal, in 2004 (Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

Donnie Darko sequel book 'in the works'

While Kelly doesn't appear to have any plans of revisiting the Donnie Darko universe on screen anytime soon, he will be revisiting the world in written form.

Titled The Philosophy of Time Travel, taken from the name of Roberta Sparrow's in-universe book, his novel will take place directly after Donnie is crushed to death by a falling jet engine and will be available to buy on 15 December.