Excited about Frank Darabont‘s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist? Edgar Wright is. The Hot Fuzz director says he’s seen an unfinished version of the flick, and it’s something to look forward to.
At a press conference last weekend promoting his Hot Fuzz DVD, Edgar Wright shared his enthusiasm for the film, currently in post-production for a November release. He also playfully dropped some famous cinematic names explaining how he came to screen The Mist at director Frank Darabont’s invitation.
“I did, I saw [The Mist] in the edit,” he began. “Not to name drop, but me and Quentin Tarantino went to watch it in the Avid at Frank Darabont’s — did I mention Quentin Tarantino?”
“Frank asked us to come into the Avid and watch it,” he continued. “Frank Darabont — director of The Mist, Shawshank, writer of Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors…writer of The Blob: remake, Kevin Dillon…also Johnny Drama on Entourage — sorry!” he said with a laugh.
Joking aside, Wright was impressed by what he saw. Coming from a proven genre buff, and a self-professed fan of Stephen King’s original novel, that should be encouraging to fans. “I used to read Stephen King obsessively as a teenager, and The Mist was always one of those stories that struck a chord with me. And Frank’s come up with a — I don’t know if you remember the ending of the story, it’s quite open-ended conclusion — but Frank Darabont has got an amazing ending, the final payoff is great. It’s obviously unfinished; all of the effects [are] still unfinished, but the fact that it still worked in that state was great. And a great cast; Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden — just fantastic.”
Darabont is, after all, a three-time Oscar nominee. He’s been honored for adapting and producing The Green Mile, and for adapting The Shawshank Redemption — both of which were also originally Stephen King stories.
