Donnie Darko, 2001
Director
Cast
- Jake Gyllenhaal
- Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Drew Barrymore
- Noah Wyle
- James Duval
- Patrick Swayze
- Mary McDonnell
- Katharine Ross
visit the film locations
Los Angeles: Flights: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Aero Theater, 1328 Montana Avenue at 14th Street, Santa Monica. 24-Hour Information: 323.466.FILM
Trivia
The Aero crops up again in Barry Sonnenfeld's excellent Elmore Leonard adaptation Get Shorty
Patrick Swayze's ostentatious mansion was home to ‘popular jock’ Chris Evans in Not Another Teen Movie
Donnie Darko location: Donnie Darko's school: Loyola High School, Venice Boulevard, midtown Los Angeles
“28 days, six hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds...” and the world will end, according to Frank the giant rabbit (James Duval), a disturbing cousin of James Stewart’s cuddly Harvey. Richard Kelly’s debut feature is the stuff of cults. Bigtime.
And like a David Lynch film, to which it’s often compared, it needs to be seen over and over, though there’s a touch more logic than in Lynch's nightmare universe. The film is set in 1988 in ‘Middlesex, Virginia’, but was filmed entirely around Los Angeles.
‘Middlesex High School’, the school attended by Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is Loyola High School, Venice Boulevard just east of Normandie Avenue, midtown.
It’s at the Aero Theater, 1328 Montana Avenue at 14th Street, Santa Monica, that Frank the Rabbit appears during a screening of The Evil Dead, to instruct Darko to burn down the mansion of oleaginous sleazebag Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze).
Donnie Darko location: Frank the Rabbit appears at the cinema: Aero Theater, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, Los Angeles
The art deco cinema, opened in 1939, was where the young Robert Redford watched movies and was almost taken over by his Sundance organisation. It’s been restored by the American Cinematheque – and is also seen in Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty.
Donnie Darko location: the mansion of sleazy Jim Cunningham: 4252 Country Club Drive, Long Beach, Los Angeles
Cunningham’s mock-Tudor mansion is 4252 Country Club Drive down in Long Beach, south Los Angeles. You might recognise the grand house as the home of ‘popular jock’ Jake Wyler (Chris Evans) in Not Another Teen Movie.
Donnie Darko location: Donnie Darko’s house: 4225 Country Club Drive, Long Beach, Los Angeles
Donnie Darko’s house itself, where a jet engine mysteriously crashes into his life, is nearby at 4225 Country Club Drive.
