The cult classic film Donnie Darko was the world’s first real introduction to Jake Gyllenhaal as a grown-up actor back in 2001 and later on this year, Gossip Girl‘s Ed Westwick will make his straight-to-DVD movie debut in the film’s follow-up S. Darko. Here are a few photos of Ed on the set of S. Darko last summer along with some synopsis info on the sequel from IMDB:

S. Darko takes place in the summer of 1995, seven years after the original film. It follows Donnie Darko’s younger sister, Samantha (Daveigh Chase), who, in the wake of his death, has found herself at age 17 with a broken family, mired in feelings of insignificance. She and her best friend Corey (Evigan) set off on a road trip to Hollywood in a bid to ‘make it big’, but their journey is cut short when their car breaks down unexpectedly, leaving them stranded in a small desert town. When a meteorite happens to crash-land nearby, Samantha is plagued by bizarre visions telling of the universe’s end and it appears that their breakdown was part of some grander plan. When she finds out she was actually adopted by the Darkos, and that she is in no way related to Donnie, she must face her own demons and, in doing so, save the world and herself.

I have watched Donnie Darko at least half a dozen times and I STILL cannot tell you what the hell the movie is about. All I know is that I tend to get a new piece of understanding with each viewing … I’m hoping to have that movie’s plot figured out sometime in the next 45 viewings. After the jump, check out one more photo of a pretty “bloody” Ed on the set of S. Darko …

It remains to be seen if S. Darko will be able to win the hearts of rabid cult fans like Donnie Darko did (or if it will even win the hearts of Donnie Darko fans at all) but I’m encouraged that Ed Westwick is featured in the flick. Straight-to-DVD films aren’t usually very successful by nature but if the sequel is good, I hope word of mouth helps the film along. I’m really interested in seeing Ed in a role other than Chuck Bass. Do y’all think he’s got the acting chops to pull a Jake Gyllenhaal and become a big movie star based on S. Darko?

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