Biography
A director who has all but put his trademark on the humane prison drama, director, screenwriter, and producer Frank Darabont made his triumphant feature film directorial debut with
The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Starring
Tim Robbins and
Morgan Freeman as two inmates imprisoned for life, the film earned wide acclaim and a number of honors, including Best (Adapted) Screenplay Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Darabont.
Darabont, who spent his early years in Hollywood as a set decorator and production assistant, got his first break as a production aide on the 1981 horror film
Hell Night. His work on the film introduced him to filmmaker Chuck Russell, with whom he would write the screenplays for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), the 1988 update of
The Blob, and
The Fly 2, the 1989 sequel to
David Cronenberg's 1986 classic.
Darabont made his directorial debut with the 1990 made-for-cable
Buried Alive, a thriller starring
Tim Matheson and
Jennifer Jason Leigh. Following the success of
The Shawshank Redemption in 1994, Darabont took a five-year hiatus from directing, making a triumphant return with the 1999 prison drama
The Green Mile. Starring
Tom Hanks as a kind prison guard and
Michael Clarke Duncan in an Oscar-nominated performance as a saintly death row inmate, the film garnered a slew of awards in addition to Duncan's nomination; they included a Directors Guild of America Best Director Award nomination, as well as three more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a second Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Darabont. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide