Frank Darabont
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont was born in a refugee camp in
1959 in Montbeliard, France, the son of Hungarian parents who had fled
Budapest during the failed 1956 Hungarian revolution. Brought to
America as an infant, he settled with his family in Los Angeles and
attended Hollywood High School. His first job in movies was as a
production assistant on the 1981 low-budget film,
Hell Night (1981), starring
Linda Blair. He spent the next six years
working in the art department as a set dresser and in set construction
while struggling to establish himself as a writer. His first produced
writing credit (shared) was on the 1987 film,
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987),
directed by Chuck Russell.
Darabont is one of only six filmmakers in history with the unique
distinction of having his first two feature films receive nominations
for the Best Picture Academy Award: 1994's
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
(with a total of seven nominations) and 1999's
The Green Mile (1999) (four
nominations). Darabont himself collected Oscar nominations for Best
Adapted Screenplay for each film (both based on works by
Stephen King), as well as
nominations for both films from the Director's Guild of America, and a
nomination from the Writers Guild of America for
The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
He won the Humanitas Prize, the PEN Center USA West Award, and the
Scriptor Award for his screenplay of "The Shawshank Redemption". For
"The Green Mile", he won the Broadcast Film Critics prize for his
screenplay adaptation, and two People's Choice Awards in the Best
Dramatic Film and Best Picture categories. The Majestic (2001),
starring Jim Carrey, was released in December
2001. He executive-produced
the thriller, Collateral (2004), for
DreamWorks, with Michael Mann
directing and Tom Cruise starring. Future
produced-by projects include "Way of the Rat" at DreamWorks with
Chuck Russell adapting and
directing the CrossGen comic book series and "Back Roads", a Tawni
O'Dell novel, also at DreamWorks, with
Todd Field attached to direct. Darabont and
his production company, "Darkwoods Productions", have an overall deal
with Paramount Pictures.
