DONNIE DARKO Director Richard Kelly Reportedly Developing Biopic of TWILIGHT ZONE Creator Rod Serling
As a longtime hardcore fan of The Twilight Zone, I’ve been wondering when Hollywood would finally get around to telling the story of the man who created the iconic series... Rod Serling.
Well, Production Weekly is reporting that Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly will write and direct a biopic that will tell the life story of Rod Serling. There’s no word on how much of Serling’s life that film will cover, but I imagine a good chunk of it will focus on his time developing The Twilight Zone. There’s a lot to cover in Serling’s life, though!
He served in WWII and wrote, directed, and acted in radio shows during college while at the same time testing parachutes for the Air Force. As he started to build a reputation and explore more controversial topics in his projects, he found himself facing off with corporate sponsors who wanted to censor him. He fought back and became an advocate against censorship and for equal rights and anti war activism. Because of all this, he ended up with a nickname in Hollywood... “angry young man.”
All of this led to Serling producing The Twilight Zone, and during his time on the show he was constantly fighting to maintain his creative control. In the end he ended up creating one of the greatest and most prolific shows ever made. After his five season run, Serling went on to create another show called Night Gallery.
Serling ended up passing away in 1975 due to a heart attack. He was only 50 years old, but he had a profound effect on the world and Hollywood. He left behind an incredible legacy and inspired so many stories, films, and TV shows that have been made over the years.
The biopic is set up at Mandalay Pictures, with Jason Michael Berman and Kevin Turen serving as producers.
Kelly hasn’t made a film since the 2009 film The Box. The movie was based on a short story called “Button, Button,” and before he adapted it, Serling adapted if as a Twilight Zone episode.
I’ve enjoyed the crazy and weird films that Kelly has made, and It’ll be Interesting to see how he handles Serling’s story.