
That’s James Duval, an actor that has played a variety of roles in independent films and big blockbusters. There is also the big question of who plays Frank, that guy in the bunny outfit/mask/costume. Drew Barrymore as Karen Pomeroy, Donnie’s high-school English teacher In terms of character analysis, Donnie Darko is the protagonist, and everything we know about the other characters filters through his narrative voice.
Beth Grant plays Kitty Farmer, an annoying mom and gym teacher. Katharine Ross is Donnie’s therapist, Dr. Holmes Osborne plays Eddie Darko (Donnie’s dad), and Mary McDonnell plays Rose Darko (his mother). Noah Wyle plays another teacher of Donnie’s Kenneth Monnitoff. Drew Barrymore plays Donnie’s English teacher, Karen Pomeroy. Jake’s real-life sister Maggie plays Donnie’s sister, Elizabeth. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the lead, Donnie Darko. Drew Barrymore and her production house Flower Films was instrumental in making this all-star cast happen. Characters Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal, real brother and sister, play brother and sister onscreen in Donnie Darkoĭespite the film’s meager budget, Donnie Darko features an all-star cast of famous names and recognizable faces. All in all, the two-minute-plus trailer does a great job of articulating the movie’s feeling and plot without giving much away. We are introduced to Donnie Darko, then the rest of the trailer oozes with unsettling scenes/suggestions of mental illness, hallucinations, violence, and sci-fi elements such as wormholes in time. The scene and music then rapidly transform to the darkness of a psychological thriller or scary movie. The trailer opens brightly, with an idyllic suburban environment in the America of the 1980s: green grass, trampolines, a pristine private school, and so on. The official trailer for Donnie Darko is quite creepy.