One of the most memorable short stories you'll ever read is called "Button, Button" and it was written by Richard Matheson for publication in Playboy in 1970.

The story was adapted for the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone and is the source of Richard Kelly's (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) first studio film, The Box.

In the story, a woman is offered the opportunity to push a button in a box. Doing so will lead to the death of someone she doesn't know and a monetary payoff (it was $50,000 in the story, but the amount is $1 million in the film). Ultimately, she pushes the button.

In a panel promoting the film at Comic-Con, Kelly said that he knew the short story would be the first act of the film, but coming up with the next two acts proved difficult. "What happens after the button is pushed? What are the consequences for Norma and Arthur?"

The key, he said, was setting the film in 1976 and "tying it in with some very specific circumstances that happened at NASA in Virginia during that time."

Kelly's father worked at the NASA facility in Langley for 15 years, and admitted that the Norma and Arthur in the film — played by Cameron Diaz and James Marsden — are versions of his parents.

Marsden said he was intrigued by the simplicity of the offer the film is based on. "It becomes a moral test," he suggested.

The element that captivated Diaz was the existential. "Are we alone? Or is there something pushing us to push the button?"

Diaz went on to say that the "pacing of the film is very Kubrick, the shots are very Kubrick, it's got a Hitchcock feel of pacing."

Kelly said he was happy to be in a position to continue making films, and offered that he'd like to do more films within the studio system.