The filmmaker was recently a guest on Post Mortem with Mick Garris and Darabont was asked if he has "thrown up his hands" and given up on directing and he revealed that his time is better spent with his family and friends rather than behind the camera:
"To a degree, yeah. I can't tell you how many times I burned out. I was a workaholic machine for thirty years. I just thought, I don't want however much time I have left, I don't want the next 20 years to go by. Nobody ever laid on their death bed and said, 'Gee, I wish I had had some more deadlines."
It's great that Darabont would rather spend his time with his family and friends but there might be more at play here than he's letting on. Darabont has made it clear that he isn't happy with the state of the movie business. In the same discussion with Mick Garris, the director talked about Hollywood rejecting a new script of his that is based on an unmade Stanley Kubrick project. Darabont says he has spent the past year writing a new script based on the Kubrick project and felt it was his best creative endeavor yet. Unfortunately, the man who wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplays for The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, can't get the powers that be interested in the story, even with Ridley Scott attached as a producer. Here is what he had to say:
"I spent the last year writing a script. And I know when I'm hitting on all cylinders or not. I was hitting on all cylinders. It's a magnificent project based on a treatment that Stanley Kubrick wrote in the late '50s-an incredible Civil War piece. It's a very meaningful script and [when] I finished, I said, 'This is the best thing I've ever done.' And we shopped it around town and we didn't get a single meeting. .. It's not just me [involved], [it's also] the schmuck recluse living up north. Ridley Scott was one of the producers on it! And it's Kubrick's idea that he developed with Shelby Foote, a noted Civil War historian."
Darabont then went in on comic book movies, which he seems to believe are designed for children. Darabont essentially echoes Martin Scorsese's stance when he said Marvel movies shouldn't be considered "cinema." Darabont feels that Hollywood movies lack the art form they once had:
"They're making superhero movies-Marvel movies. They're making things for the 12-year-old comic book collectors. .. Are they making any movies anymore, really? My thesis is this: It was the art form of the 20th century. But now in the 21st century, it's just another venue for distraction. It's one of a thousand different ways that the public and the audience can distract themselves. You can find good stuff, absolutely, and a lot of good writing emigrated to television. Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul ended up being jewels in the crown of great television writing, for example. But you know what? There used to be three networks and a handful of little local stations! Now it's 10,000 stations!"
Perhaps Darabont is a little disillusioned by the industry lately which is why he also doesn't see himself directing another film. It's no secret that Darabont has been through in recent years, particularly on the television front. Darabont is very well known for developing The Walking Dead for television before he was controversially fired during the second season, which led to more headaches for the director. Darabont isn't what I would consider old at 62-years old but filmmaking and the Hollywood machine can be very stressful and that can weigh heavily on your psyche and physical well-being. That being said, The Shawshank Redemption is widely considered one of the best films of all time, and The Green Mile and The Mist are also well-respected in most circles. He has certainly left his mark if he's honestly ready to step away from jobs behind the camera.
Do YOU think Frank Darabont is really done directing?