Apparently the State Department isn't convinced that director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) isn't a terrorist. According to Jeff
Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere, Kelly's
passport has been held "under review" in good old Washington, D.C., bastion of freedom, because some guy
named James Kelly is on their terrorist watch list, and Kelly's full name is James Richard Kelly.
All this means that Kelly, whose film Southland Tales premieres at Cannes, which opens May 17 -- and is in competition for the top prize at the fest -- may not be able to be there to enjoy his moment in the spotlight. Now, I'm all for keeping terrorists from blowing up planes and committing other dastardly deeds, but really, doesn't it seem there ought to be some easier way for the State Department to differentiate between a (relatively) well-known film director and a potential terrorist than making his mom dig up his junior high yearbook?
In what is surely an unintentional case of irony -- if only because it's hard to imagine government bureaucrats being that clever -- Southland Tales is about the government (what -- our government?!?) imposing a police state in the wake of a second major terrorist attack. It all kinda makes me wonder how many other people with common names get caught in this kind of snafu -- and makes me ever so thankful I chose to stick with my uncommon maiden surname rather than changing to my husband's very common one.
Fortunately, I doubt there are a whole lot of James Rocchi's out there, at least on terrorist watch lists, so hopefully our esteemed Editor-in-Chief won't experience a similar hold-up getting himself to Cannes to give you all the French film festival coverage you can stomach.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-04-2006 @ 10:00AM
JT said...
Speaking of Cannes, don't you guys want to organise some kind of a meetup over there? It would be interesting to discuss live...
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5-04-2006 @ 5:15PM
D said...
This happened to me a few months ago. Someone apparently had my same exact name, middle name and all, so I was held at the airport for 8 hours while things were "sorted out". I find it odd because my name, especially my middle name is the furthest from common. Mainly "sorting out" consisted of them going through my bags and asking me where i was going, who was i meeting and stuff like that. When they were asking me questions, I felt like I was going to go all Chunk from The Goonies and start admitting my 3rd grade crimes haha. It really freaks you out and you start reviewing what you might have done the last few years.
Coincidentially, I had a novel published which you could classify as being harsh on the current administration. So maybe there's something to this?
Apparently they solved the problem by checking the birth dates of myself and the other terrorist person and let me go.
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5-05-2006 @ 3:37PM
Melissa said...
It also happened to my son in law. He is not on a no fly list but has to go through a special check in. He has a common name, so I guess everyone with that name is on the list. It is insane. Think about 2008 when Homeland Security is in charge of your National ID/drivers license. They can simply choose not to let you have it or not renew it if you have the wrong name. The other problem is you cannot find out why you are on the list or get yourself off it. (unless you are Senator Ted Kennedy)
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