The director i have chosen to do is Frank Darabont. I have chosen to do him as not to many people know to much of him and just know a few films here and there that he has directed or helped out in. He is also the co-director of my second favourite show (after Stranger thing), ‘The Walking Dead’ which is doing extremely well at the moment with his help. He is also a director on everyones second favourite film, ‘Shawshank Redemption’ which i personally really adore.
History
Three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont was born in a refugee camp in 1959 in France, him and his Hungarian parents had fled Budapest during the failed 1956 Hungarian revolution. Brought to America as a little boy, he settled with his family in Los Angeles and went to Hollywood High School. His first job in movies was as a production assistant on the 1981 low-budget film, Hell Night which stared Linda Blair. He spent the next six years working in the art department as a set dresser and in set construction while struggling to get himself noticed as a writer. His first produced writing credit was on the 1987 film, A NightMare on Elm Street 3:Dream Warriors, which directed by Chuck Russell. he is one of only six filmmakers with the unique distinction of having his first two feature films receive nominations for the Best Picture Academy Award: 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption and 1999’s The Green Mile. Darabont himself collected Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for each film, as well as nominations for both films from the Director’s Guild of America, and a nomination from the Writers Guild of America for The Shawshank Redemption. He won the Humanitas Prize, the PEN Center USA West Award, and the Scriptor Award for his screenplay of “The Shawshank Redemption”. For “The Green Mile”, he won the Broadcast Film Critics prize for his screenplay adaptation, and two People’s Choice Awards in the Best Dramatic Film and Best Picture categories. The Majestic, which stared Jim Carrey released in December 2001. He executive-produced the thriller, Collateral for DreamWorks, with Michael Mann directing and Tom Cruise starring. Future produced-by projects include “Way of the Rat” at DreamWorks with Chuck Russell adapting and directing the CrossGen comic book series and “Back Roads”, a Tawni O’Dell novel, also at DreamWorks with Todd Field attached to direct. Darabont and his production company, “Darkwoods Productions”, have an overall deal with Paramount Pictures. Currently he’s a co-director for the hit TV show the walking dead and has successfully directed all six series.
Filmography
Visual Style
Shawshank Redemption I believe that it is one of the best films Freeman has ever done in his career. That said, he is not the only one that makes this movie fantastic. The film is one of those rare films that draws its audience in from the very beginning and keeps them entertained until the end. Darabont’s classical dramatic filmmaking style makes this film an instant classic among audiences of all demographics. Everyone who has had a struggle in life that they felt was unfairly put upon them can relate to his movies and they will end up giving you hope in hopeless situations.
The Green Mile has a similar theme of hope in a world of hopelessness. In fact, there are a good amount of parallels between these two movies in themes and filmmaking style. However, instead of Morgan Freeman, this one has Tom Hanks. Another amazing well-known actor. This film creates an atmosphere for the audience that is almost impossible for the audience to ignore or dislike.
Here is an interview with Frank Darabont about the creation of the walking dead. This interview is very useful to aspiring directors, as it shows that any idea has the potential to become massive if done correctly. It also goes on and tells us about how he envisioned it and was able to create this masterpiece even with the small budget he had.
Critical Reception
Frank Darabont is a director who is much beloved by critics and average consumers, he has worked on very highly rated shows and films, such as ‘The walking dead’ and ‘Shawshank Redemption’ which scored 85% and 91% with the critics. This is shown by a quote by the empire A thumping good ode to friendship, hope, with, wiles and wisdom, brimming with crackling characters and topped with the most twisteroo of twists since “The Crying Game.”. Although ‘Shawshank Redemption’ has a great amount of success now but it was a flop when if first came out in the cinema and only started to achieve fame when it released on DVD and tape. ‘The walking dead’ is what he is most commonly known for, this program reached very high ratings which varied from 85% to 91% throughout the 6 seasons its been aired. Throughout his career he’s worked on mainly the same style of films, action and mild horror; We are able to tell this from looking through his film list: ‘Saving Privet Ryan’ (action), ‘Walking Dead’ (horror/action) and ‘The mist’ (horror). This tends to mean they all get the same age restriction, 15. this is because they tend to contain mildly strong language, violence and gore which is not suitable for younger audiences. This also means Ofcom does not allow them to be shown past the watershed (9 o’clock) as they believe children should not be exposed to that sort of content.
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