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MillimeterFrank Darabont, Director
Nov 1, 2001 12:00 PM, Michael Goldman
When writer Frank Darabont launched his feature directing career with two Oscar-nominated prison films — The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile — he earned a reputation for producing feel-good material of depth and substance. Darabont says he won't be ashamed if his latest effort, The Majestic continues that trend, particularly at a time in history when filmgoers could use a lift of spirits.
“I'll admit this movie does have a certain sense of patriotism and decency and simple values about it,” Darabont says. “It's being called Capraesque, and for good reason, in terms of promoting those kind of values. People have suggested to me that even my prison films were Capraesque in that sense, which I consider a great compliment. Compared to what is going on in the world right now, obviously all of this is extremely trivial. But if this film cheers people up, then I'm all for that. We didn't necessarily intend it this way, but the patriotism in the piece seems less quaint than it might have prior to the tragedy of September 11
In the film, Darabont directs Jim Carrey as a straight, romantic lead in a dramatic performance, “minus the gimmicks of imitating other people or being artificial for the first time,” says Darabont. “He's showed me he's a phenomenal dramatic actor.”
Carrey stars as a screenwriter in the 1950s who is blacklisted during the McCarthy reign of terror and then suffers a bout of amnesia. To create 1950s small-town America, Darabont took cast and crew first to Ferndale, Calif., other locations up and down the California coast, and then to the Warner Bros.' Burbank lot, where two huge sound stages helped them recreate historical events, like the controversial HUAC Congressional hearings.
The film features black-and-white segments to create a fictional movie within the movie, and also uses stock footage to place actors into the actual HUAC hearings, but Darabont says his most crucial collaboration revolved around production design issues.
“I worked with Greg Melton, a guy I went to high school with, on this project for the first time,” Darabont explains. “In my two prison movies, I worked with Terence Marsh, a living legend, an Oscar winner, and a genius. But Terrence retired, so I turned to Greg and he turned in a Marsh-like job with the design work. It was really quite challenging, because we had to turn a sweet, little town like Ferndale into what I needed for this specific story. We invented the town with a full-size movie theater, a diner, a town hall, and a park. We turned an old bank with a parking lot into the town hall and park. Greg also created some amazing interiors, both on location and in the sound stages. I'd have to say, in that sense, this movie is very similar to my other two, because it relies so heavily on production design.”
The year-long Majestic experience has caused Darabont to tentatively plan “at least a couple years off” — from directing, that is. He'll continue producing films for his production company, Darkwood Productions, and return to screenwriting. (Darabont was nominated for an Oscar for adapting the Shawshank and Green Mile screenplays from Stephen King books.)
In particular, he's turning his attention to adapting Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451 for the big screen, with Mel Gibson producing and an eye to writing and directing the project himself.
“That's the thing I'm most excited about, to be honest,” he says. “Francois Truffaut did a version many years ago (1966), but we are working on going in a different direction, more true to Bradbury's vision. We have no real timetable for it, but on the other hand, I would really like to do it while Mr. Bradbury is still alive. Hopefully, we can get that done sooner rather than later.”
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.
