Frank Darabont: A Man of Convictions

Q: Your reputation is the polar opposite of the screaming, ranting diva director.

A: I don't like bullies. I don't like unpleasant people. What's more, there isn't any element of this job that requires that. I had a bit of that in my father. I grew up disliking it. I came to understand him as I matured, but that doesn't excuse any of it. His was a wasted life, as far as I'm concerned. One thing bullies never get is that they'll never get the best out of people by mistreating or demeaning them.

Q: How do you handle your emotions on a movie?

A: I just fire a few shots over people's heads and that calms everything right down. [Laughs] I get tense, crabby. Lord knows the fatigue factor and pressure get to you, but I go outside the soundstage and walk around the parking lot counting to 10, and if that doesn't work, I count to 100.

Q: Your mother is still alive. Have you been able to do anything cool for her with the movie money?

A: I was able to retire her about a year early and move her out of Inglewood to Sedona, which is a nice change of pace. She was a legal secretary most of her life, and later worked for the Social Security Administration. She had two sons to support and it was a hard row for her. It was a pleasure to be able to do something nice for her. She was my date at the Oscars, and she loves going to premieres and all that Hollywood stuff.

Q: What about The Bijou, a romantic comedy that you may direct next?

A: What a lovely story this is. A real romantic comedy set during the McCarthy hearings in 1952, so it's got a little serious edge, too. Mostly, it's just moving, so lovely and such a fable. After I clear my head out, I'll get to work on the script, but I won't start seriously thinking about it until early next year. There are actually a number of other Stephen King pieces that I'm kicking around. One of them, The Mist, is an out-and-out horror film, which would get me back to my roots, really. All these more recent ironic, post-modern takes on the genre don't interest me at all. I'm looking to see the whole genre unfold again. There are signs of life in the old girl yet. Look at The Silence of the Lambs or Seven. I haven't seen Blair Witch, but the last time someone made something really innovative was Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 with Bruce Campbell doing some things in it as good as a silent film comedian.

Q: Are the rumors true that you're going to produce a Doc Savage adventure fantasy epic, with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the strong guy?

A: We've got it in development at Castle Rock. Two brilliant young men in my office--Dave Johnson, my assistant, and his college buddy Brett Hill--love the pulp stuff and brought Doc Savage to my attention. Dave is about to go out on a leave of absence to write the draft. It's been really exciting to mentor them in this. We took it to Arnold, who is the perfect Doc Savage, if you ask me, and a lovely man. We've been talking about working together for some years. With any luck at all, within the next two years, we'll see Arnold as Doc Savage in a theater near you.

Q: What's the state of American screenwriting?

A: Well, it's not like the earlier days of movies, when movies were literate and screenwriters had read the great writers and were themselves great writers. A lot of screenplays today are written by people who grew up thinking Gilligan's Island was ancient dramaturgy.

Q: Is it true you worked with Spielberg on rewrites for Saving Private Ryan?

A: Yes. He'd offered me a few things as a script doctor before Private Ryan, and I was, like, "Nah." I'm glad I waited for the one thing to come along that I could really be passionate about. There's quite a lot of my work in the movie, just as there's a lot of Robert Rodat, and Scott Frank brought some very significant things to it. I'm delighted to have become a friend of Spielberg's recently. He's an extraordinary man and an enormous spirit. He's got this aura around him that's like a battery charger. I can go there feeling drained from making The Green Mile and I walk away from him feeling like I'm the luckiest guy in the world because I got to make The Green Mile. He has an amazing, low-key gravitas that really puts me in a good mood and reinspires me every time I see him.

Q: It was rumored that you were a candidate to write Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace. What happened?

A: [Laughs] Any number of smart-ass answers leap to mind. How about, "I pissed off George and he has a contract out on my life"--I love the rumor mill, man. Very simply, I was approached early on about the film. It wasn't an unusual notion, because I'd worked for George on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. I said, "Of course I'd be interested. Let me know when you're ready." When George was writing the treatment, he decided to go into first draft on his own. Once he was into it, I don't think he wanted to get away from it. The need for Frank Darabont never arose. As it turned out, he didn't need me.

Q: Did you ever ask Lucas why he wasn't directing movies for so long before the Star Wars prequel?

A: I did and he said, "Well, it pretty much kicks my ass." His earlier experiences were so difficult that he decided to take some time away from it, and that turned into 20 years. In the meantime, he built an extraordinary business empire. It's not like he was sitting home eating pizza. The man has a scary work ethic.

Q: Do you accept the comparisons people have made between you and Frank Capra?

A: He's one of my gods. He was one of the best ever and I'm certainly not comparing myself to him, but I have some things in common with his sensibilities. He had a real interest in what made people tick, what made them rise to an occasion. He looked for what was strong, good and noble in human nature. People are being forced to eat nihilistic Big Macs. Audiences want to know the heights to which we can aspire. They want food for the soul. Hollywood ought to take better care of that need, I think.

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Stephen Rebello interviewed Melissa Joan Hart for the August 99 issue of Movieline.

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