Frank Darabont gets Misty
April 3, 2008

Question: How did writer/director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) prepare make the monster movie The Mist (The Weinstein Company, April 8), which is based on a story by Stephen King?

Answer: He directed an episode of the television show The Shield.

Huh?

“I directed an episode of The Shield as a workshop of sorts,” the affable Darabont told me in a recent interview. “The Mist was a six-week shot, which is pretty fast for a movie of that scale. And it was really kind of

challenging to move as fast as we did. So, it was a tremendous bit of homework to have done The Shield and, at the end of the day, a very fortuitous move to make.”

Another pleasant side effect to emerge from Darabont’s television experience was that he ended up using a number of crew member from The Shield on the shoot for The Mist.

“They were on hiatus from The Shield when we were shooting, so it was perfect. They bought years of experience to our film,” he said. “Part of what attracted me to The Mist was the opportunity was to change things up and get out of the comfort zone I established on my earlier films. I went much more on instinct on this one in terms of camera work and improvisation, which was a new experience for me.”

But everything old is new again when it comes to a director taking control of the set and moving forward with the making a movie.

“There’s a fine line between democratic and autocratic—you have to find where that line is. The important democratic part is to listen carefully and indeed solicit thoughts from those around you. If you’re working with talented people, they’re going to come up with solid ideas,” he said. “But ultimately, you have to pick a direction and say, ‘Guys, we’re in this lane now!’

Darabont pointed out that it’s also the director’s job to keep the set as positive as possible, even if you’re nixing creative everyone else’s creative input left and right. Walking that tightrope between democracy and autocracy is a tricky proposition, and one that can certainly cause problems and low-energy if it’s not negotiated carefully.

“One thing you can’t buy is enthusiasm, particularly by your cast. That’s something that’s important to me and so I try to give it my all,” he said. “A director can quickly loose the confidence of his cast and crew by being dickhead.”

Posted by Laurence Lerman on April 3, 2008 | Comments (0)