SDCC: Frank Darabont is the Coolest Filmmaker on the Planet

I've mentioned this before, but it's worth reiterating here: I don't really enjoy doing interviews with filmmakers and celebrities. I fancy myself a somewhat "creative" writer (not necessarily a good writer, but hopefully a creative one), and the interview format doesn't really leave all that much room for creativity. If I gave you a list of all the famous people I PASSED on interviewing, you'd probably call me a clueless buffoon. And you may be right.

But one thing I do enjoy is doing a casual interview with a filmmaker who doesn't really have a current project to "push." This way we can just talk about movies in general, and I don't have to feel the pressure of "focus on his NEW movie!" So when Erik sent me a list of five or six people that I could talk to from Genius Products (the home video distributor of Harvey Weinstein's films), I told him "Nah, thanks, unless you desperately want coverage of someone." But then I looked a little closer: Um, Frank Darabont was there to do some chatting? Uh, yes please. Anyone who's ever seen The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, or The Mist knows that Mr. Darabont is one hell of a good filmmaker -- but anyone who's ever listened to one of his audio commentaries also knows that the guy is one of the most articulate, passionate, and well-prepared directors under the sun.

Plus he wrote or co-wrote The Fly 2, Nightmare on Elm Street 3, and the Blob remake. So obviously I was about to sit down with a horror geek I could relate with. And dear sweet lord, what a fun guy to talk to! I got the impression that he and I could have shot the breeze for two hours without running out of "movie talk" -- but unfortunately I only had about ten minutes. And, um, my voice recorder had extinguished its batteries. Ugh.

Frank seemed very excited about the upcoming Blu-Ray release of The Mist -- and he happily mentioned that the original concept art (pictured above) would be used for the new B-R DVD. (Which comes out on September 16, definitely includes the mega-awesome B&W version of the movie, and will be the final piece of inspiration I need to purchase a Blu-Ray player.) We also talked a little bit about the wonderfully bleak ending of The Mist (he called my interpretation of the sad ending "very astute"!), how good it feels to be connected to a modern classic like The Shawshank Redemption, and the difference between shooting his "jail movies" and The Mist. (Basically, the two prison films were planned with pinpoint precision, whereas The Mist was much more of a "run and gun" affair, and therefore a bit more fun to do.)

Unfortunately this interview took place ON the convention floor, which means we were interrupted by several noises, politely interrupted by some fans, and basically sweating our butts off. Also, there were two other writers who were waiting to interview Darabont, so I had to cut it a lot shorter than I'd hoped. I politely neglected to ask about Mr. Darabont's Indiana Jones draft (and it seemed pretty clear that the subject was off-limits, anyway) and I didn't get to delve into the Fahrenheit 451 project, but hell -- I got to chat with a very cool filmmaker about a very cool monster movie. It wasn't the perfect interview opportunity, but I wouldn't have traded it for an hour with a different director.