Donnie Darko Director Reveals His Next Project

A biopic about Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling is in the works, and now it's found a director. Richard Kelly, who directed the cult classic Jake Gyllenhaal movie Donnie Darko, has signed on to not only direct, but also write the screenplay, according to TheGww.

The untitled Serling biopic would be Kelly's fourth feature-length movie and his first since 2009's Cameron Diaz-starring movie The Box (2009).

Kelly already has some kind of limited connection to Serling and The Twilight Zone. The Box was itself based on Richard Matheson's short story, "Button, Button," which was adapted into an episode of the '80s version of The Twilight Zone show.

Serling lived an interesting life, with lots of material for the movie.

From Collider: "Immediately after graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and trained as a paratrooper. Since he was raised Jewish, he had hoped to fight Hitler and the German Army, though he was sent west to fight in the Philippines, where he saw death all around him each day. Though he was honored with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, Serling's experience in the military haunted him and had a profound effect on his later work. After being discharged, Serling attended Antioch College, where he began writing and performing in radio shows on campus. At school, he had a reputation as a ladies' man as well as a daredevil, as he took on the dangerous job of testing parachutes."

Serling later worked for television shows, but he grew irritated with needing to compromise his vision for advertisers and censors, so he made his own show, The Twilight Zone. GameSpot parent company CBS Corp. currently owns the rights to The Twilight Zone.

The newest version of the show, from the mind of Get Out writer Jordan Peele, premiered this year on CBS All-Access. The show was very popular, and CBS ordered a second season.

There is no word yet as to who may play Serling in Kelly's movie. As can be the case in Hollywood, there is no guarantee that the movie will ever even be made.

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