I concur, Clarissa. After Jack Twist, of course, Donnie Darko is by far my favorite character of Jake's. And it's not just because the characters are both so interesting on the page - it's because of the life he breathed into them. Like Jack, Donnie exists separately from Jake to me. So he's done that twice for me, now. Only one other actor has done that even once for me, and that of course is Heath's Ennis.
Gretchen: What the hell kind of name is 'Donnie Darko'? It sounds like a superhero or something.
Donnie: What makes you think I'm not?
Do you know what my favorite moment of his is in that one, though, in a movie full of favorite moments? When he sees that the Chinese girl has written his name on her book cover when she drops it in the hallway and runs off, and he smiles after her. What a lovely scene, and what a lovely person Donnie is that he isn't appalled or disgusted by a kind of unattractive girl having a crush on him - he's sincerely flattered.
