Frank or Ferenc Darabont was born January 28, 1959 in Montbéliard, France. Darabont was born in a refugee camp with his parents during the Hungarian Revolution. After the 1956 Hungarian Revolution ended, Frank Darabont and his parents fled Hungary and traveled to the United States. Darabont only being a toddler, moved with his family to a home in Chicago. At the age of five, Frank and his family moved to Los Angeles, where he discovered his love for books and movies (Frank Darabont). Darabont is still living in Los Angeles with his fiancé Julie Richardson. Darabont attended and graduated from Hollywood High School, but he did not move onto college because, he didn’t have a desire for anything but movies, and he started his filming career early. He was only twenty seven years old (Frank Darabont).
Frank Darabont started his career in 1983 by writing the screenplay and directing The Woman in the Room, a short film. After that Darabont had his success mostly in genre of horror or science fiction. Surprising, his big success came with two movies in neither the horror or science fiction genre. First, in 1994 Darabont wrote the screenplay and directed The Shawshank Redemption, which was based ona short story written by Stephen King. This movie won thirteen awards and has been nominated for fifteen awards, and seven of them being Oscars. The second movie was in 1999 and it was named The Green Mile, a movie based on the novel by Stephen King. This movie received thirteen awards and twenty three nominations. Although, these aren’t the only movies Frank Darabont has directed. He has directed the movies The Woman in the Room, Buried Alive, Nightshift Collection, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Majestic, Raines, The Shield, The Mist, and L.A. Noir. He has also directed the show, The Walking Dead.
Darabont is one of only six filmmakers in history having his first two feature films receive nominations for the Best Picture Academy, “these two films were The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile. Usually critics have nothing but good things to say about Frank Darabont and his movies. Some critics say his interpretations of novels are simply superb and his screenplays are touching, scary, and inspiring. Boston Globe said “It's a simple story elegantly, cleverly told, not to mention expertly acted.” Similarly the critics at Reel Film Reviews raved “[The Shawshank Redemption]...has certainly earned its reputation as one of the most effective prison movies in cinematic history.” The inspiration of Darabont are Stephen King books because he loves the style of King and he thinks his stories are special and he wants to see them up on the big screen so that’s what he does. |
Frank Darabont’s career has slowed down over the last decade to where he is making an average of one or two movies over six to seven year time periods. He hasn’t had any hits or big award winning movies since the late nineties. Darabont has been keeping busy with his The Walking Dead show until he was fired in late 2011 ("The Walking Dead" and Ruining Your Welcome: A Television Review ("Pretty Much Dead Already")). Now Darabont is working on his TV movie L.A. Noir (Frank Darabont). His career in still going and the world is just waiting for his next masterpiece.
Frank Darabont had changed the game of book to movie adaptations. He arguably has written some of the best book adaptations in history, like the Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption. Darabont is the most well known director but he sure is one of the most affective. Darabont fell in love with movies at an early age after little exposure to it and his love for his works shows. Frank Darabont’s name is not spoken of often but when it is it’s always about a good thing. His movies and work have affected people and have inspired people and that’s his goal in his career.
Frank Darabont had changed the game of book to movie adaptations. He arguably has written some of the best book adaptations in history, like the Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption. Darabont is the most well known director but he sure is one of the most affective. Darabont fell in love with movies at an early age after little exposure to it and his love for his works shows. Frank Darabont’s name is not spoken of often but when it is it’s always about a good thing. His movies and work have affected people and have inspired people and that’s his goal in his career.