Frank Darabont has briefly exited retirement to direct a couple of Stranger Things episodes. But could it lead to a permanent return?
Frank Darabont has only directed four feature films, a pretty slim filmography by the standards of most directors. However, when three of those films are The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist, a trio of classic Stephen King adaptations, it makes you wonder why Darabont’s body of work as a director isn’t larger (though if you throw in his screenwriting, he’s been busy since the 1980s; 1988’s The Blob was an early career highlight).
After all, Frank Darabont’s disappearance from the world of film directing doesn’t appear to be some kind of self-imposed exile such as the one that Quentin Tarantino is planning for himself.
Instead, Darabont’s retreat from filmmaking seemed to happen around the time that he became embroiled in a bitter creative and ultimately, legal dispute over the future of AMC’s The Walking Dead show, which he steered to incredible heights of success before leaving due to disagreements with the network’s executives.
Actor, Thomas Jane – who worked with Darabont on The Mist – has claimed in the past that the filmmaker found himself out of favour with Hollywood after suing AMC and reportedly taking them for $200m following The Walking Dead. Whatever the reason, Darabont hasn’t worked much in the last decade, with his short-lived 2013 series Mob City being his last foray into writing and directing.
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However, the Duffer Brothers have tempted Darabont out of retirement to direct a couple of episodes of the hit Netflix show Stranger Things’ final season. Does this mean a return to filmmaking is back on the cards for Darabont?
“What really dragged me out of retirement was that my wife and I really love this show,” Darabont told The Daily Beast..
“Our content now is so filled with horrible people doing horrible things for greedy reasons, but Stranger Things has so much heart. That positivity is something I really responded to.”
So does this mean he’s back in the filmmaking frame?
“Who knows?,” he adds. “I haven’t missed the business but I have missed being on set with creative people. It may well be one and done, but we’ve still got time.”
We’d take one more film from Darabont – and as he said, there’s still time. It won’t be his long-gestating take on the Stephen King novella, The Long Walk as that project has finally entered production with Francis Lawrence at the helm. However, we’re sure Darabont has plenty of other ideas up his sleeve.
Here’s hoping his stint on Stranger Things leads to a late career revival for a filmmaker who body of work has earned him the right to bow out with a final flourish.
