2013 American biographical drama film directed by John Krokidas
Kill Your Darlings is a 2013 American biographical drama film about some young men of the Beat Generation. Written by Austin Bunn, it is directed by John Krokidas in his feature film directorial debut.
The film had its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, garnering positive first reactions. It was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, and it had a limited theatrical North American release from October 16, 2013. Kill Your Darlings became available on Blu-ray and DVD in the US on March 18, 2014, and then in the UK on April 21, 2014.
The story is about the college days of some of the early members of the Beat Generation (Lucien Carr, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac), and their interactions. It includes Carr's killing of his long-time friend David Kammerer in Riverside Park in Manhattan, New York City.
The title is a reference to the often-misquoted advice of Arthur Quiller-Couch, that writers must be willing to remove their most finely written passages if they fail to serve the piece as a whole: "Murder your darlings."
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.