There's something in "The Mist" — and there were a few things going on behind the scenes,
too. This is what you might not know about Frank Darabont's impressively upsetting sci-fi flick.
Early in his career, Frank Darabont was known as a screenwriter. He and
his writing partner Chuck Russell co-wrote the screenplays for "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3:
Dream Warriors" and the 1988 remake of "The Blob." Darabont also wrote "The Fly II," some
episodes of "Tales from the Crypt" and the "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," as well as
Kenneth Branagh's retelling of "Frankenstein," titled "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Obviously,
he's long had an interest in genre films — horror in particular.
While working on "Dream Warriors," Darabont thought it would be a good idea to have a
project he could work on as a director. He was torn between two Stephen King stories,
until he finally came to a decision one fateful night.
"The Shawshank Redemption" was almost certainly the correct choice, as it was nominated for
seven Oscars and changed the trajectory of Darabont's Hollywood career for the better. Soon,
he was working on "The Green Mile" and "The Majestic." After those more optimistic movies,
it may have seemed strange to audiences only familiar with his glossy, feel-good films
that he would then direct something dripping with as much blood and despair as "The Mist."
"The Mist" begins in a rather quiet way. Poster artist David Drayton is hard at
work until a storm outside cuts the power and draws his family's attention. It's pretty bad
out there — then a tree crashes through the window, destroying David's hard work.
The next day, the Draytons spot a strange mist forming over the water,
and head to the local supermarket for supplies. During their trip,
that spooky mist rolls into town and traps everyone inside the store.
It's a gradual buildup to the big reveal that something terrifying is lurking in the mist,
and it really keeps the tension mounting — but that wasn't always how the film opened. During
the audio commentary for the film, Frank Darabont explained his original idea for the opening,
comparing it to something you might have seen in "The Outer Limits." There's an
accident in a military lab, and the mist is released into the world to wreak havoc.
He thought it was a good idea to explain to the audience where the mist came from.
However, during a dinner with Andre Braugher — who plays the skeptical Brent Norton — the actor
suggested to Darabont that the laboratory scene might be worth cutting out. After
some thought, Darabont was in agreement, and he ended up scrapping any explicit origin scene
for the mist. That sense of ambiguity makes the film much more unnerving.
In his commentary for "The Mist," Frank Darabont explained that the exterior of David Drayton's
home was filmed outside of Shreveport, Louisiana. During the scene when David and his family wake
up to find their property has been trashed by the previous night's storm, there's a whole
lot of debris and foliage scattered about. Not only did the filmmakers use all this to create
the damage done in the night, but they did it to make the area appear a bit more like New England.
With the help of some CGI mountains, the filmmakers managed to create the
impression that the story, like so many of Stephen King's works, takes place in
Maine. This was done so effectively that even King himself was fooled. Darabont recalled —
"When Stephen King first saw [the exterior of David's house],
he leaned over to me and said, 'Did you shoot this in Maine?'"
If you've seen "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Green Mile," or even "The Majestic,"
then you know that Frank Darabont has a very precise and cinematic style. Every camera move
feels intentional and motivated; each shot tells us something about the characters.
"The Mist," on the other hand, is a bit more chaotic. The action is happening
everywhere at once, and the cameras are always moving as they try to capture it.
That change was intentional. Part of it was due to the film's budget and schedule,
but some of it was Darabont deliberately trying something new. While discussing
his approach to filming "The Mist" on the film's audio commentary, Darabont said —
"I think it's great to, on occasion, just shake it up. Just shake up everything that you know and
try on a whole different way of doing something — try on a whole different suit of clothes."
In order to do this, Darabont needed to be less of, in his own words,
a "control freak." He had to loosen up and find things in the moment. As a result,
cameras in "The Mist" whip around the store, zoom into a bit of action, then move on to
something else. There were even moments during shooting when camera operators would turn around
and wind up filming each other. All of this went into creating a realism new to Darabont's work. He
compared the style to a documentary, and there are moments when it certainly feels that way.
Thomas Jane had been in one Stephen King adaptation prior to "The Mist." In 2003,
he was part of an impressive ensemble cast for a less than impressive big-screen version of King's
novel "Dreamcatcher." Despite the massive talent of director
Lawrence Kasdan and co-writer William Goldman, the movie failed to connect.
When talking to "The Loser's Club" podcast, Jane said that he didn't
understand "Dreamcatcher's" script — and he didn't even want to do the movie at first.
Even though the film didn't necessarily turn out to his liking, Jane was drawn to it by his
appreciation for Stephen King stories. That's likely why he accepted Frank Darabont's offer
to star in "The Mist," which proved to be an exciting development for the director.
Darabont had been a fan of Thomas Jane's work for some time, but they never got
the opportunity to work together until production started on "The Mist." When
Darabont finished writing the script, Jane was the first actor to read it,
and things just snowballed from there. Darabont said of the experience —
"I was very happy that [Thomas Jane] wanted to make this movie. And the
experience of working with him was everything I'd hoped it would be. It was really lovely."
The cast of "The Mist" includes some major heavy hitters, recognizable faces known for
delivering great performances. Thomas Jane, of course, is the lead of the
film — he'd previously appeared in "Boogie Nights" as the effortlessly cool Todd Park,
and he played Mickey Mantle in the Billy Crystal-directed "61*." Andre Braugher had
spent years in the hard-hitting drama series "Homicide: Life on the Streets." Finally,
Marcia Gay Harden had been in so much that mentioning her earlier credits would take all day.
There were also a few actors Frank Darabont had worked with in the past. Jeffrey DeMunn
played Dan Miller, the man warning everyone of what's in the mist, but he'd previously
been in both "Shawshank" and "The Green Mile." The same is true for William Sadler.
Laurie Holden had previously starred in "The Majestic" before doing "The Mist,"
and Darabont brought her over to do "The Walking Dead" as well.
There was plenty of established talent in the film, but that doesn't mean they
stole the show. There were a few "local" hires — actors living and working in the
same geographical region of filming — who really brought the house down. One,
in particular, Melissa McBride — who would go on to play Carol in "The Walking
Dead" — floored everyone with her performance as a mother begging to go home to her kids.
According to Darabont's commentary, when McBride was done filming,
the entire cast and crew applauded — even the big stars among them.
If there's one element to "The Mist" that doesn't always work, it's the CGI. The scene
on the loading dock when they open the door and inadvertently let in a tentacle is particularly
rough. It looks more like a cartoon than the limb of a living creature occupying the same space
as our human characters. At least, that is until they dismember it and the CGI becomes practical.
That's pretty emblematic of the entire film. The old-school, practical "movie magic" grounds
everything, while the more recent techniques falter. For instance, the market that was found
for the exterior was so perfect that its interior was recreated on a soundstage. Frank Darabont
also mentioned in the film's commentary that what we glimpse outside the store
window is a massive 20 foot by 60 foot digital photograph of the actual store's exterior area.
These days, productions would probably try to use something like the Volume,
a technology pioneered for "The Mandalorian" that allows filmmakers to film photorealistic,
digital backgrounds on the set with the actors.
The earthquake scene was also done practically. Instead of artificially
shaking the image or lifting the whole set up on a gimbal, the crew simply shook the shelves,
shook the cameras, and pulled down the lights. Darabont also said that speakers
were brought in to play the sounds of an actual earthquake. The fact that he didn't
tell the actors the sound was coming meant that their reactions were more authentic.
Back when movie posters actually inspired prospective audience members to see a film,
artist Drew Struzan was king. Think of any great movie poster that you've seen,
and chances are whatever pops to mind was painted by Struzan. "Big Trouble in Little
China," "Blade Runner," and the "Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition" are just a few of
his masterpieces. He even produced posters for "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile."
In the featurette "Drew Struzan: An Appreciation
of an Artist," Darabont gushed about Struzan's contributions to cinema .
To honor the iconic artist, Frank Darabont decided to base his main character's own work on that of
Struzan. When we see David Drayton adding color to the rose hovering beside a gunslinger — who
Darabont confirmed on the commentary is Roland from a fictitious adaptation of "The
Dark Tower" — he's actually working on an original Struzan that was commissioned for the production.
Not only that, but Darabont also pointed out that David's workstation is fashioned on Struzan's
personal studio. In the background, we can see posters for Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth"
and John Carpenter's "The Thing" — posters Struzan also made. In the end, Darabont admitted —
"I thought it was just time for us to acknowledge how much we love Drew Struzan."
The ending of Frank Darabont's "The Mist" is a real gut punch, to say the least. The
original novella was open-ended: all we know is that the characters who survived are going to
continue traveling through the mist until they find something. There's no closure,
for better or for worse. The movie, on the other hand, delivers a disturbing and deeply unsettling
finale that not everyone in the audience is going to be okay with — David Drayton mercy-kills his
friends and son, only for help to arrive and the mist to blow away just seconds later.
What inspired this gruesome climax? When talking to fellow screenwriter and director Mick Garris
about "The Mist," Darabont explained that he isn't the same fresh-faced,
optimistic kid who made "The Shawshank Redemption." He opened up, saying —
"The events of the 21st century have not been to my liking. I see the game
being rigged and re-rigged and re-rigged so many times. If we're going to continue to
make the same stupid mistakes, then what the hell value is there in our species?"
In another conversation with Stephen King himself, Darabont mentioned that
the film's ending felt natural because King had written a story about how people break
down and do terrible things under pressure just to survive. In that same conversation,
he explained that before agreeing to make the movie with Dimension Films,
he needed studio executive Bob Weinstein to agree to let him do the ending because
it was non-negotiable. Thankfully, he got to make exactly the kind of movie he wanted to.
There have been a ton of movies based on Stephen King's books and short stories over the years,
and not all of them are great. King himself doesn't always approve of the movies based on
his work. It's not just "The Shining," either — King went as far as to sue New Line Cinema
to have his name taken off the extremely unfaithful adaptation of "The Lawnmower
Man." It's not impossible to impress the King of horror, though — there are a number
of adaptations that King quite enjoys. King wrote very favorably of "The Mist"
in an updated edition of his non-fiction book about horror, "Danse Macabre." As he put it —
"Frank Darabont's vision of hell is completely uncompromising. If you want sweet,
the Hollywood establishment will be pleased to serve you… If you want something that feels real,
come here. Darabont could have made a higher budget film if he'd added a cheerful 'it's
okay kiddies' ending, but he refused. His integrity and courage shine in every scene."