Curt Smith (co-founder of Tears for Fears, who originally sang the song as part of the band) and his daughter, Diva Smith, posted a video of themselves at home, performing the song “Mad World,” which holds a place in the hearts of many fans of Donnie Darko, and seeing Jake Gyllenhaal share it brought that all rushing back.
A film that was, for many, the first of its kind, Donnie Darko focuses on a teenage boy is living through the presidential election of 1988. Potentially dealing with some kind of mental illness, Donnie sees a ghoulish giant rabbit, Frank, who tells him that the world is going to end in less than a month, and it sets off a series of strange happenstances where Donnie has to decide what’s truly happening to him, and the world.
Also, I love that Frank shows up to tell Donnie that the world is ending in a golf course. He likes the greens.
Whatever your own personal stance is on Donnie Darko, it’s a staple in the lives of many fans of Jake Gyllenhaal. It even includes Maggie Gyllenhaal (his actual sister) playing his sister, Elizabeth Darko. It’s funny because Jake Gyllenhaal was 20 years old playing a teenager and he looks perfect for the part and now Jake Gyllenhaal could probably bench press his 20 year-old self. How time heals.
So today, to make me emotional for absolutely no reason, Gyllenhaal took to Instagram to share the Curtis and Diva Smith video.
View this post on Instagram
To be quite honest, the entire soundtrack for Donnie Darko is incredible. Filled with music of the ’80s (because of its setting) and mixed with the darker nature of the movie as a whole, it, for myself and a lot of others, is an iconic look back at what we used to think made us edgy in high school. Not even kidding, I watched Donnie Darko for the first time in like 2007 and probably thought I was somehow represented onscreen, which … baffling.
From an all-star cast for the time, including Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze, to up-and-comers like Jake Gyllenhaal (even though October Sky had come out two years before), it’s just one of those films that, honestly, is hard to describe. Jena Malone, Gyllenhaal, and more shine, and maybe it’s time we all revisited Donnie Darko and cried.
It also helps that the version of “Mad World” that Gyllenhaal posted then took me down a rabbit hole (pun intended) on Diva Smith’s Instagram to find this quarantine song that might be my new anthem.
Anyway, time to go rewatch Donnie Darko now, for my own heart.
(image: Newmarket Films)
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