Speaking of “The Shawshank Redemption,” Frank Darabont has been “retired” from filmmaking for well over a decade now. That’s why recent news that he’d temporarily come out of retirement to direct two episodes for Netflix’s “Stranger Things” was seen as a hopeful sign that he might be making a comeback. Darabont is helming episodes 3 and 5 of the show’s final season.
In a new interview, marking Shawshank’s 30th anniversary, Darabont tells The Daily Beast that he only came out of retirement for ‘Stranger Things’ because he’s a huge fan of the show.
“What really dragged me out of retirement was that my wife and I really love this show,” reveals Darabont. “Our content now is so filled with horrible people doing horrible things for greedy reasons, but “Stranger Things” has so much heart. That positivity is something I really responded to.”
So does this mean he’s back in the filmmaking game? “Who knows?,” he admits. “I haven’t missed the business but I have missed being on set with creative people… It may well be one and done, but we’ve still got time.”
In case you’re unfamiliar with Darabont, he’s only directed four films in his career, including “The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile,” and “The Mist” (let’s pretend “The Majestic” doesn’t exist). He hasn’t helmed a feature since 2007 — the reasons why vary, many are just theories, and I won’t get into all of them here.
Actor Thomas Jane (“The Punisher”), who worked with Darabont on “The Mist,” had mentioned, on the Kingcast podcast, that the filmmaker had effectively been blacklisted in Hollywood for suing AMC over the “Walking Dead”. Long story short, Darabont got screwed over by the newtork with his show and ended up filing some fairly heavy-duty lawsuits against them. Seems Darabont might have been in the right — he ended up winning the case and pocketing close to $200 million.
Ever since his 2011 ‘Walking Dead’ exit, Darabont has done some uncredited, and fairly hush-hush, work as a script doctor on Hollywood blockbusters. He also created the 2013 TNT series “Mob City,” which lasted just six episodes.
Darabont was originally slated to direct 2009’s “Law Abiding Citizen,” and 2014’s “The Huntsman: Winter's War,” but left both productions due to “creative differences”. More interestingly, he also wrote a script for a film centered around the American Civil War, based on an unproduced screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and historian Shelby Foote. Darabont has said it’s the best thing he’s ever written, but that no studio wanted to fund it.
Maybe the door has finally re-opened and some of these projects can now come to fruition. Darabont is 65, which means, when compared to Scorsese, Scott and Coppola, he has plenty of years left in the filmmaking game.
As expected, Snyder's latest is being torn apart by TIFF attendees. No mercy given. The film, which had its world premiere this evening, is being called by some one of the worst movies to ever premiere at the festival.