Frank Darabont’s doing something no one could have predicted. He’s adapting a Stephen King novella.
Okay, so a few people might have predicted that – but give the man a little credit: he’s been working on The Mist for a long time.
"It's a project Stephen King and I have been talking about doing for almost 20 years now," Darabont told Variety. "In fact, it almost was my first directing project many years ago, but I went classy and did The Shawshank Redemption instead. It's time to get down and dirty and make a nasty little character-driven gut-punch horror movie."
Thomas Jane is in talks to be part of the ensemble cast for the film, which is based on a tale in King’s 1985 short story collection Skeleton Crew. A small town is slowly engulfed in a thick mist that kills anyone caught in its darkness. When terrified survivors hunker down in a supermarket, they’re attacked by deadly creatures.
Bob Weinstein is producing the film through Dimension, and seems just as excited to be working on it: "I'm a fan of films like Saw, Wolf Creek and Hostel, but when I started Dimension, Stephen King and his ability to create real character-based thrills in Misery, Carrie and The Shining was an inspiration for the kind of films I wanted to make. This is a great opportunity to get one of those classic properties and to work with Frank, who handles Stephen's work so well."
Darabont should be scaring the pants off a full cast by next spring.