Talking with CHUD, writer/director Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption", "The Green Mile") talked about his plans for the long-awaited adaptation of Stephen King's "The Mist" as well as other films on his slate.
Darabont confirms that the film will have a similar "fast and furious" paced narrative, and Dimension is letting him make the film as dark as he wants. The story involves a mysterious fog enshrouding a small town, a mist filled with frightening Lovecraftian style monsters.
Most of the action takes place in a supermarket where people have taken refuge and soon the 'mini-society' that forms begins to crumble due to fear and panic.
Darabont says "I've always thought of it as Stephen King's Lord of the Flies, because it's less about the monsters - which are important, certainly. If you're going to do a horror movie you might as well have some really cool monsters - but it's more about the disintegration of civilization in that supermarket, how everything breaks down for those people in there. From that standpoint it's a fascinating story to tell".
Plan is to begin filming 'Mist' in February which could have the film ready by as early as late 2007. Casting began this week.
As for his adaptation of Ray Bradbury classic "Farenheit 451" he says "I'm going to be doing a lot of long range prep work on that while I'm making The Mist. That's hopefully going to go next right after Mist is done".
