10 Movie Secrets They'll Never Tell You

Donnie Darko is a fascinatingly imaginative sci-fi thriller that's been widely discussed and debated by film fans at large over the last near-quarter-century, and particularly with regard to its elliptical ending.

One popular fan theory is that Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal), who dies at film's end, was actually dead throughout the entirety of the movie, as was posited to writer-director Richard Kelly by NME back in 2016.

But the ever-enigmatic Kelly coolly sidestepped the question with effectively a non-answer which did nothing to demystify the ending:

"I don't have an answer to that question, I think the film argues that life and death can perhaps coexist, that time is not necessarily a purely linear thing."

Granted, there's very little benefit in Kelly explaining his movie and ripping away all the intriguing ambiguity, no matter that his Director's Cut arguably reveals a bit too much for its own good.

All the same, by keeping shtum on the exact nature of the ending, he sensibly keeps the mystery alive forever more.