10 Directors Who Need To Get Back On The Big Screen

5. Richard Kelly

Still only 39 years old, Richard Kelly appears to have lost his way somewhere on the path to becoming the next big thing. Unseen since 2009, this is the guy who shot Jake Gyllenhaal into the big time in 2001 and in doing so gave us one of cult cinema's modern classics - Donnie Darko. Perhaps Kelly's problem was a case of too big too soon, and the casting of his next film, Southland Tales, would certainly suggest that he believed he could bite off more than an army could chew. His Hollywood dream team of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Sarah Michelle Geller, Sean William Scott and Justin Timberlake combined to produce a near unwatchable disaster. And somewhat unthinkably, Kelly had managed to make a film where Buffy playing a stripper was actually a turn off. His follow up, The Box, was better, but still a major disappointment - not helped by Cameron Diaz's phoned in performance - but that should not spell the end for Kelly. Cinema needs directors willing to take risks and try something different, as Hollywood is awash with reboots and remakes, and Kelly certainly fits the bill. He needs to be given that chance, and make the true follow up to Donnie Darko that fans have been waiting thirteen years to see.