There are plenty of filmmakers who have adaptedStephen King’sworks time and time again, but no one is better at emulating the Master of Horror thanFrank Darabont. Ever since the very beginning of his career, Darabont has linked his creativity with that of King. Whether he is adapting short stories into features or bringing to life one of King’s greatest full-length novels, Darabont has proven himself to understand the ideologies and mechanics of this author’s works better than anyone else. So far he’s only tallied up four adaptations, and while those that we have are some of the best iterations that audiences have been given, it would never hurt to have more. Just saying!
In this day and age, Frank Darabont has become a name-brand filmmaker in his own right. He no longer has to lean on the legacy of King to carve a name out for himself. By now, Darabont has had his hand in the jars of many franchises and intellectual properties but also has worked in his own space plenty of times. On his own terms, Darabont has come up with movies likeThe Majesticand shows likeMob City. In terms of franchise entertainment, he’s been one of the brainsbehind the 80sBlobremake, wroteNightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriorsand aRobert DeNirostarringFrankensteinadaptation, helped write bothTales from the CryptandThe Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, broughtThe Walking Deadto the small screen, and of course, has had his hand in multiple King adaptations. Before he could ever become one of our greatest current screenwriters and directors, Darabont would first have to make a short film to prove his skills as an artist.
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‘The Woman in the Room’ Was Darabont’s First Foray Into Stephen King’s Work
The Woman in the Roomisn’t just his first King adaptation, it’s Darabont’s first short film in general! This short film is lifted from the 1978 short story of the same name, and is also one of the first “Stephen King Dollar Babies”. King provided this method for independent filmmakers to buy the rights to his stories for one dollar so that they could adapt them if they were struggling to come up with a story on their own.Darabont reached out to Kingabout makingThe Woman in the Room, to which he generously approved his requests. It took three years for the filmmaker to raise money in order to make his movie but what came of it is a melancholic, haunting short film that not only proves Darabont’s abilities to touch on the darker side of King but simultaneously brings to life the author’s smaller, character-driven moments as well.
‘The Shawshank Redemption’ Was Darabont’s Directorial Debut and Triumph
The mid-to-late 90s saw Darabont quickly become one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation. His work in genre TV and film in the ’80s and early ’90s paved the way for him to make the jump into the character-driven movies that he would become known for. 1994’sThe Shawshank Redemptionis both Darabont’s directorial debut and an adaptation of the 1982 short story"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption". There’s truly not much that needs to be said about the greatness ofShawshank. It has become regularly cited as one of the greatest films of all time, if not the greatest, and is jam-packed with beautiful character moments, namely between Andy Dufresne and Ellis “Red” Redding (Tim RobbinsandMorgan Freeman). Not only is it a fantastic drama, but it also doesn’t shy away from King’s tendency to bring incredibly dark moments to his otherwise sincere,decade-spanning talesthat are rooted in Americana.Shawshankis a beautiful movie, but that’s a feeling that only washes over you in bursts. This is a bleak tale, and Darabont translates that to the screen masterfully. Anyway, yeah,The Shawshank Redemptionis great. Who would’ve thought?
‘The Green Mile’ Is Another Fantastic Non-Horror Adaptation by Darabont
The Shawshank Redemptionmight not have been the smash hit that you would think on release, but it quickly grew into its stone-cold-classic reputation pretty quickly thanks to home video and airings on cable. 1999 would see Darabont seem to try and replicate that success withThe Green Mile, his first adaptation of a full-length King novel, and his second King prison tale. While it hasn’t reached the highs ofShawshank,The Green Milehas become acompletely beloved, bittersweet classicin its own right.Tom Hanksmight be the face on the poster, and he is truly great as Paul Edgecomb, but it’sMichael Clarke Duncan’sperformance as John Coffey that everyone walks away from this movie talking about.
Somehow,The Green Milemanages to be even more sentimental than Darabont’s previous King adaptation, even bordering on becoming schmaltzy. That being said, it does manage to translate King’s ability to weave light elements of fantasy with very American tales that are steeped in the States' iconography. It might not be the greatest movie ever made, but it was a box office hit, racked up a few Oscar nominations, and is a wonderful King adaptation by Darabont.
After a Decade, Darabont Returns to King Adaptations With ‘The Mist’
Darabont would take almost an entire decade off of adapting King again, but in 2007 he would take audiences back to the library for his spookiest work yet, an adaptation of the 1980 novellaThe Mist. It’s strange that Darabont would take this many years to crack one of his favorite author’s horror stories, but once he did, he didn’t hold back. This movie makesShawshank’shopeless tone look like recess.The Mistis a gutting, nightmarish monster movie that takes King’s love for films in this genre from the 50s, gives it a modern, gory spin, andchanges the novella’s endingto somehow make iteven moredepressing. This movie presents King’s brand of horror to a T and proves that Darabont doesn’t just have the game to tap into the author’s chops for writing wonderful characters, but also in bringing his signature gruesome elements to life. That being said, loads of people can make a movie scary, but few can make you care about its characters as well as this filmmaker can. If you’re looking for a gut punch of a story, the kind that only King and Darabont can provide, look no further thanThe Mist.
Darabont Isn’t the Only Adapter of Stephen King
Now listen, there are plenty of filmmakers who have also adapted King multiple times and have done so very well. First off,Rob Reinerdirected bothStand by MeandMisery! These are two fantastic films that bring him closest to the title that Darabont holds, but given thatMiserydoesn’t tap all the way into horror in the way thatThe Mistdoes, Reiner hasn’t fully proven that he can go all the way wherever King leads.George A. Romerohas worked with King directly andadapted some of his works, but never jumped over into his warmer, nostalgic side.
Then there’sMick Garris, who has directed more King adaptations than one can count. While his works likeThe Standprove that he understands the need for a lengthy runtime in King adaptations, others likeThe Shiningminiseries make us question everything. Either way, his love for the author is infectious, so all of his works are fun to a certain degree. Then there’sMike Flanagan, who, similar to Darabont,seems to understand the author’scharacter moments, storytelling mechanics, aesthetic, and deep Americana (even so far as to translate them to his original works, likeMidnight Mass), while also attempting King’s horrific tendencies… his movies just aren’t scary. Sorry!
More than anyone, Frank Darabont is the king of adapting King. He clearly understands every aspect of the author’s works, whether we’re talking about his language, settings, visuals, dramatic moments, or even the horror in King’s stories. Darabont has adapted them all, and done so masterfully. Here’s hoping that, eventually, he treats us with one more.
