What You Didn't Know About Shawshank

ifc.com has an interesting article titled, "15 Things You May Not Have Known About The Shawshank Redemption."

Actually, I did know  most of it.  But here's a fact that was new to me: The title was changed to avoid confusion.  (Yes, I knew the title was changed.)  But apparently it held the original title for quite a while in pre-production, creating some interesting situations.  Check it out:

Darabont wrote the script in eight weeks before pitching it to Castle Rock Entertainment. He decided to drop the “Rita Hayworth” part of the novella because actresses sent their resumes in for consideration thinking it was a Rita Hayworth biopic. During the casting process, Darabont even received a call from an agent who represented a supermodel; he swore the script was the best she had ever read and that she’d be perfect for the (non-existent) part of Hayworth.

Also, it turns  out that voice overs are not that easy!  Seems like they should be, doesn't it?  But we're not in the movie making business.  

Originally, all of Morgan Freeman’s voiceover was recorded before any of the film was shot. The fact that much of it syncs up to the onscreen action (see: the scene on the roof where the inmates drink beer) isn’t simple editing. Darabont would playback the recorded voiceover on-set during each take for the actors to specifically play off of the audio. But the audio quality of his voiceover was too poor to include in the movie due to tape hiss, so Freeman had to re-record the entire voiceover in post-production.

Read all 15 at ifc.com

Does Mr. Mercedes Have A Flat Tire?

I saw the first review of Mr. Mercedes today -- and it made my heart sag a little. Chuck Bowen of Slant magazine, posted his thoughts today.  Bowen previously wrote an interesting article titled, Five Tips on How to Make a Good Stephen King Movie Adaptation.  It was an interesting article, but since I don't plan on making a Stephen King movie adaptation, and I do plan to read Mr. Mercedes, I dived into the review.

Bowen's review isn't very pretty.  Bowen is just flat out cruel; accusing King of not taking the craft itself seriously.  At the heart of the review if the idea that the novel is undeveloped, underwritten and reads like a screen play.  He praises King for working "outside the horror genre."  But his praise is short lived and he quickly moves to throwing eggs at Mr. King.  In fact, he not only gets his digs in at the book he is reviewing, but takes a few cheap shots at Doctor Sleep while he's at it.  Here's the bullet points:

• Bowen whines that King is publishing too quickly and not rewriting his work enough.
• The book, Bowen reports, moves too quickly.  It is too action packed.  "The pace is numbing, relentless."  (yeah, that's the kind of book I like Chucky!)
• He doesn't like King's use of emphasizing things in the text by bolding, capitalizing and italicizing.
• Bowen accuses King over using clichés and "absurd, unsatisfying plotting." 
• Sound tough?  He's not done!  "The dialogue is appallingly tone deaf," Bowen accuses the author. He goes on to say King is dishing out "crass obviousness." 

And he goes on and on.  

I get the sense that Bowen is a bit stuffy in his approach to reading.  Don't have fun with it.  Don't say a building looks like a UFO; or make the dialogue fun.  Bowen is the teacher at the front of the room demanding you use proper English and don't bold so much!  He wants that paper nice and clean, no italicizing or capitalizing.  

Bowen's greatest complaint seems to be that King drives the story hard, pushing it ever forward with energetic writing.  We can't have that, ya know?  No energetic writing!  Writing should be slow, careful and keep the reader a little sleepy.  Bowen would enjoy John Knolls A Seperate Peace or Olive Anne Burns' Cold Sassy Tree.  I want to italicize those book titles, but I won't because I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm italicizing too much.

A clue that Bowen doesn't really know his Stephen King jumps out in his previous article about adapting a Stephen King novel for screen.  He says that King should not be allowed to write the script for his movies, and then says that Pet Sematary is one of the "very worst adaptations of his work."  PET SEMATARY?  One of the worst? Maybe he didn't see Langoliers.  On the Pet Sematary rant, Bowen calls the movie a "flat, impersonal spectacle."

But it's not just Pet Sematary he doesn't like.  He's also not a fan of The Green Mile. Discussing the problem of bringing King's dialogue to screen, Bowen wrote, "But even at its best, King's dialogue is usually too stylized to be spoken out loud, and actors often sound silly in their attempts to imbue it with tossed-off spontaneity, a problem that sinks the already problematic The Green Mile."  I did not realize the Green Mile sank or that it was "problematic."  

Also note that Bowen does not like Frank Darabont's adaptations of Stephen King's work.  So his credibility is about zilch at this point.

King Never Cashed His Shawshank Check

The Wall Street Journal posted a series of behind the scenes pictures from The Shawshank Redemption.  One caption read:

Mr. King never cashed the $5,000 check Mr. Darabont sent him for the right to turn his story into a movie. Years after 'Shawshank' came out, the author got the check framed and mailed it back to the director with a note inscribed: 'In case you ever need bail money. Love, Steve.' 

Check all the pictures out at online.wsj.com

In another article, WSJ points out that The Shawshank Redemption continues to make money.  Though the film did poorly at the box office, it caught on later.

In the days when videocassettes mattered, "Shawshank" was the top rental of 1995. On television, as cable grew, it has consistently been among the most-aired movies. 

In a shifting Hollywood landscape, film libraries increasingly are the lifeblood of studios. "Shawshank's" enduring appeal on television has made it more important than ever—a reliable annuity to help smooth the inevitable bumps in a hit-or-miss box-office business. When studios sell a package of films—many of them stinkers—a "Shawshank" acts as a much-needed locomotive to drag the others behind it.  (online.wsj.com/news)

How strong is the film?  WSJ notes that though Warner Brothers wouldn't say how much they made off the film, that it was "one of 6,000 feature films in a library that last year helped generate $1.5 billion in licensing fees from television, plus an additional $2.2 billion from home video and electronic delivery."

David Drayton, Dew Struzan and The Mist

In the film adaptation of The Mist,Thomas Jane plays David Drayton.  But there's a story behind the character.  Frank Darabont gave some added texture to the story by making Drayton an artist.  But not any artist!  He's Drew Struzan.

Drew who?  You might not recognize the name Drew Struzan, but you'd recognize his art.  He drew the posters for Blade Runner, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, ET, Harry Potter, The Walking Dead -- and something like 150 movie posters.  Sometimes his poster was better than the movie!

You  might recognize his work from a few Stephen King movies including The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.

The Shawshank Redemption

Frank Darabont says about Struzan's work on the Shawshank Redemption that he is very collaborative.  "When we did the Shawshank art, there was definitely some conversation with him about what the elements should be," Darabont said.  "He took images that had been becoming iconic during the decade since (the book) had been released."


Now how does that connect to The Mist and David Drayton?

This is from the May 22, 2008 edition of the Los Angeles Times:

Frank Darabont is such a fan, he not only has tapped Struzan for pieces for "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile," he has also made him a basis for Thomas Jane's lead character in last year's "The Mist." (Several of Struzan's originals were featured on-screen as set dressing.) 

Struzan's website says, "The Mist: The movie begins with David Drayton, the main character, hand painting a movie poster for an upcoming film. He is a poster artist. A collection of his other original works, including posters from The Thing, Shawshank Redemption, Pan's Labyrinth, Green Mile and other paintings actually by drew can be seen in his studio. He is painting a picture known immediately to Stephen King fans to be for his The Dark Tower. This is the original painting created for the film."

Dark Tower, The (The Mist)
Medium: Acrylic paints and colored pencils on gessoed board
www.drewstruzan.com/illustrated

A documentary about Struzan appeared at ComicCon.  The documentary includes interviews with Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, Guillermo del Toro, Leonard Maltin and many others.  It is currently on Netflix.

Frank Darabont decorated the set of The Mist with artwork from Struzan's studio.  Further, Struzman gave Thomas Jane tips on how to actually look like a painter so he could, "look authentic" in the film.  "I portrayed Drew," Jane said.  "He wouldn't let me leave until I got it just perfect," Jane commented.  "At the premier of the film, Drew said, 'No, no that wasn't right."  He did everything wrong, Struzman said!  Jane notes that he has  nailed all kinds of difficult roles, but he couldn't play Drew Struzman for thrity seconds.

Darabont: Stephen King has an innate talent

I enjoyed Frank Darabont's interview at independent.co.  About Stephen King, Darabont writes,

Stephen King has an innate talent I’ve adapted several of his books for the screen [The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist] simply because he is one of the all-time great storytellers. He can put characters on a page that engage you in a way that few writers can. It’s a magic trick he has, and I’m not sure how he does it.

I'm currently reading The Mist and noting just how good the movie adaptation was.  When it comes to King's work, Darabont swung three home runs in a row.  He says that the lasting popularity of Shawshank brings a "pleasing level of respect, but nothing opens doors like a film that actually makes a lot of money."

Darabont Goes After AMC

Frank Darabont -- known by King fans for his work on THE MIST and THE GREEN MILE -- is suing AMC, claiming that  they are withholding profits generated by his series, The Walking Dead. The series is in its fourth season, with each season progressively drawing a larger audience.

The Bangor  Daily News  reports:

Frank Darabont, who developed the TV show about a zombie apocalypse and was fired after the first season, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in a New York State Supreme Court.
Darabont said that the way AMC is calculating the show’s licensing fees is depriving him and other participants of tens of millions of dollars, the lawsuit stated.
AMC spokesman Jim Maiella declined to comment.

The full article is at: bangordailynews.com

Ending The Mist

photo credit HERE

Netflix has Tales from the Script, which is simply interviews with Hollywood screenwriters as they discuss what it’s like to write scripts.  I love it!  And, there are a lot of Stephen King directors in the mix here.

• John Carpenter, Christine
• Frank Darabont, The Mist
• Mick Garris, The Stand
• William Goldman, Misery, Hearts in Atlantis, Dolores Claiborne, Dream Catcher

THE MIST:

Do you like the ending to the Mist?  I don’t.  How much would you pay to change it?  How about $30,000,000 ?

A producer offered a Darabont a 30 million dollar budget for The mist if he would change the ending.  Darabont asked, “What ending would you like me to have?  What is your suggestion?”  The answer: I don’t know!  Darabont explained, This is the ending I’ve been thinking about for 30 years now.  He didn’t have a suggestion.

This is my opinion. . .

So how should  The Mist end?

I have a suggestion: (a few)
1. Not that ending!
2. More seriously, it’s okay for the main characters to die – just not that way.  Let them drive away and get eaten by a big dino-monster.  That’s fine.  But a father cannot do that to his child – not a good one.  It messes up the movie for re-watch.  To me, the ending makes the David Drayton unlikable.  As you watch again, you are thinking, “I can’t like this guy, he’s got a major character flaw.”  He does what Mother Carmody wanted to do but failed.  He does it with different intentions.  Simply put, a good reason not to blow a kids brains out when a situation looks really really really bad – is because there might be a miracle.  Not only does David Drayton carry out a incredibly painful act, but the movie rubs our face in it by showing the mist getting blown away by the army.
3. They escape, drive out of the Mist with a terrible creature right on their heels.

The Mist is a great movie.  It’s a great movie you want to reflect on, chew on, discuss.  But the ending is so strong, it blinds you to everything that happened previous.

King did not end his novella.  He just let them drive away.  I guess you can do that in a book, but a movie needs an ending.  King has said he liked the ending of movie version of The Mist.

Strengths Of  The Mist

1. The story holds up.  It is based on King's  novel, and is one of the few books that actually comes alive on screen the way it reads.  That is, a lot of what you read is exactly what is reproduced on screen.

2. It's creepy.  Giant bugs, dinosaurs, and the mist itself shrouds everything -- making it even more scary!  It some ways, I think The Mist accomplishes what Under The Dome did not.  Everything is cut off from civilization, and then the monsters move in.

3. People do things that seem likely in a crisis situation.  it shows courage, fear, religious zeal and a lot of infighting.

My favorite scene: The docking bay.   

• What is your favorite scene from The Mist?
• How  would  you end  The Mist?

Walking Dead

In a post titled, "‘We Can’t Go Out There!!’ Sunday Brings The Last WALKING DEAD Till February!!" Hercules, a mastermind of cool news -- at ain't it cool news -- (there is so much cool here that you should feel the need to put on a jacket) says the following about The Walking Dead:

Tonight brings the midseason finale of “The Walking Dead.” It may also be the episode that was being written when AMC fired “Walking Dead” mastermind Frank Darabont, writer-director of “The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile” and “The Mist.” I’m guessing that when Darabont left, so did plans for Stephen King to write an episode.

Hercules then offers 3 predictions, which I will not give away.  They are cloaked in mystery!  Unless you go over to his website. . . which is cloaked in mystery!  Unless you click on this link.

The Black & White Version Of THE MIST

My wife and I love old movies, and have a special fondness for Black and White. My dad hates it! I think it has something to do with having grown up in the 50's, when color was a big deal. To me, Black and White draws us back to another generation of film makers who knew how to do it!

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Hitchcock Would Approve!

You know, of course, Hitchcock chose to film Psycho in B&W. It's not like they hadn't invented color! One reason was to keep the budget under a million smackers. But he also said he chose black and white because of the shower scene. Audiences, he explained, already know what blood looks like. I love how the camera pans down to the drain to reveal that dark black pooling up in the shower.

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Donald Spoto explains in The Art Of Alfred Hitchcock, "at the center of the film is the legendary shower murder. . . in it we receive the impression of violence brutality and despair without being nauseated with color blood and detail." (p.325)

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The Mist as a story reminds me more of The Birds than Psycho -- though none of us would have trouble believing Mother Carmody could have more than one person rattling around in that nutty head of hers.

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Some notes:

So here's my notes, with a particular eye to the black and white:

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1. I enjoyed Frank Darabont's introduction. By the way, the FBI warning is in color. (I'm just sayin'. . .)

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2. The B&W does give it a classic movie feeling. I think one of the goals was to give it the old feel of a 1950's horror movie. Only, the monsters get a lot more screen time than most old movies!

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3. The B&W also gives the movie an unworldly sense. It feels darker. My wife said it's a surreal feeling. The shadows are much more noticeable -- but it's more than that. Lilja writes this: "The black-and-white version is darker (and I don't mean picture wise) and gives the movie quite a different feeling --" (Lilja's Library, p.454)

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4. In the loading dock scene, the lighting makes the scene much more intense in B&W.

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5. Where B&W doesn't work as well. . . In the scene where the rope is pulled back to the store, the blood on the rope does not have the same impact it had in color.

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The Test:

So which do you like better? It's not left up to guessing, is it? You can actually watch both versions! What's interesting is that you can do the very same thing (almost) with Psycho. It was re-filmed, scene for scene, in color! The result? Well, in my opinion, Hitchcock was right! The chocolate syrup is a lot more scary than bright red blood. It almost makes the classic, well -- trashy. I'm actually not sure why the remake was done. Nothing new was added, except color and Anne Heche.

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Perhaps, like with Psycho, what I really like is that the Mist in B&W calls out to the imagination. Sure, everything is still on the screen, minus the color. But that extra demand on our imagination stirs us out of our lazy viewing habits and engages us at a deeper level. Or, I might be full of it on that! Just suffice to say, I really like the Black-and-White version.

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Darabont's introduction can be seen here: http://www.cinemablend.com/dvdnews/darabont-explains-black-and-white-cut-of-the-mist-9579.html

AMC: Fear Fest

Once a year AMC goes crazy. It's great. Fear Fest is an annual horror movie marathon. and, if you're a B-movie fan, you can watch a fistful of B's on AMCTV.COM.

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For King fans, the day to tune in is October 9. AMC will be airing, King classics Cujo, Pet Sematary, The Shining, Sleepwalkers and Graveyard Shift.

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Also of interest is the Friday The 13th marathon running from October 18-22. They say this is the first time the films have aired together (at least on AMC). I haven't seen any of these films except the first one. They will also be airing Halloween 1-5.

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To be honest, I'm more excited about this list -- also showing in October on AMC: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Frankenstein (1931), Dracula (1931), The Wolf Man (1941), and many others. Now that's some good stuff! Is Night Of the Living Dead really considered a classic?

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THE WALKING DEAD:

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What's really being touted is the new AMC series, "The walking dead." The pilot is written and directed by Frank Darabont (The Mist / Shawshank Redemption).

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Dread Central offers this synopsis, "The Walking Dead" tells the story of life following a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, traveling in search of a safe and secure home. Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, Teachers, Strike Back) portrays the lead role of Rick Grimes while actor Jon Bernthal (The Pacific, The Ghost Writer) portrays the character Shane, who worked with Rick in the police department before the zombie disaster. Other cast members include Laurie Holden ("The Shield"), who plays Andrea, one of two sisters who join the survivors of the zombie plague, Steven Yeun as Glenn, an expert scavenger, and Sarah Wayne Callies ("Prison Break"), who plays Rick's wife, Lori. http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/40178/new-trailer-walking-dead-and-amc-announces-fearfest

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AMC lineup for Fear Fest: http://blogs.amctv.com/movie-news/2010/10/amc-fearfest-kickoff.php

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