Frank Darabont Ferenc was born on 28 January 1959 to Hungarian parents in the French town of Monbeliard, where his parents were seeking refuge from the Soviet response to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Now simply Frank Darabont, he is an American film producer, director and screen-writer, perhaps best known for his involvement in such films as “The Shawshank Redemption”, and TV series “The Walking Dead”, since his debut in the early ’80s.
So just how rich is Frank Darabont? Sources state that Frank’s estimated net worth is now over $15 million, accumulated from his varied career of over 40 years in the entertainment industry
Frank Darabont Net Worth $15 Million
Soon after Frank’s birth, the family moved to the United States. Darabont grew up in Los Angeles and decided to pursue a career in film-making after having seen the film “THX 1138” by George Lucas. He decided to start working on his dream career right after graduating from Hollywood High School, and so never went to college. Soon he got his first production assistant jobs on such projects as “Hell Night”, “The Seduction” and “Trancers”. He wrote and directed his first short film entitled ‘The Woman In The Room’ in 1983, and this film got him onto the semi-finalists’ list for that year’s Oscars.
Darabont’s work quickly became noticed, and he was approached by Chuck Russel, who offered him creative collaboration, and the two went on to write a number of film scripts. One of their most successful was the film “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 : Dream Warrior”. Darabont and Russel continued writing scripts until 1990, when Darabont’s directorial debut, a TV film called “Buried Alive” was released on the USA Network. However, alongside his directorial career, Darabont kept working as a screen writer, and among other projects, he wrote for the television series “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”.
Author Stephen King was impressed by Darabont’s early adaptation of one of his stories, and subsequently granted him the rights to another of his works, “The Shawshank Redemption”, which was only a moderate success at the box office, but was greatly acclaimed by critics, and for which Darabont received seven nominations at the Academy Awards in 1995, including for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Darabont’s later achievements include “The Green Mile” (1999), another Stephen King adaptation, which is the highest grossing movie of all of Stephen King’s adaptations, it which took an impressive total of $286 million at the box office worldwide. Other highly successful works of Darabont are “The Mist” (2007), a horror movie that was very well received by critics, and the first season of “The Walking Dead”, a TV series based on a comic book of the same name. The series was very popular and received many positive reviews, however, Darabont was made redundant in 2011 due to budget cuts and irreconcilable differences with the executives of the TV channel that ran the series, which Frank claimed left him millions of dollars short in payments.
Soon after parting from “The Walking Dead”, Daramont was hired to develop a new TV series, called “Mob City”. He felt very enthusiastic about the project and cast a number of his regular actors as he believed the project would be successful. However, “The Mob” only ran one season in 2013 before it was cancelled despite mostly positive critics’ reviews.
One of Darabont’s latest works is the 2014 version of Godzilla. He rewrote the screenplay for the movie, saying he wanted to picture Godzilla as a ‘terrifying force of nature’. Overall, Frank has worked on almost 30 films, and is into double figures with TV series and films too.
In his personal life, Frank is married to costume designer Karyn Wagner: they have worked together on several films
BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominations
Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay, Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, Writers Guild of America Award for Television: New Series, Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, Nebula Award for Best Sc...
Movies
The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist, The Majestic, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Blob, Buried Alive, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Fly II, The Woman in the Room, The Salton Sea, King Kong, Two-Fisted Tales, The United Monster Talent Agency, Fahrenheit 451
Frequently makes adaptations of stories or novels by Stephen King.
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Quote
1
[on screenwriting and being a screenwriter] Don't get into this business if it's about trying to make a million-dollar sale. We've got plenty of assholes around trying to achieve that goal. There are more dilettantes in the game than real, committed, I'm-gonna-go-down-swinging kinda people. We need more of the latter and less of the former. We need people who care about this as an art form. Movies should count for more than an opening-weekend gross, because whatever had a huge gross this week, will they be talking about it in 50 years? Will it be [a] credit to the art form, the way we talk about Casablanca (1942)?
2
I'm Willy Loman wandering around with a briefcase under his arm. Truth is, most people in Hollywood are. There's tremendous bureaucracy designed to prevent you realizing your creative vision. They will try to find every reason in the world not to make your movie. It's a very interesting and perverse situation. The only person who can, with impunity, make the movie he wants to make has got to be Steven Spielberg. And I'm sure even he has a bumpy day or two. The rest of us are flailing around trying to find somebody who'll believe in what we believe in. It's tougher than ever, really, because the kinds of movies that I wish to make are not the obvious thing being shoveled out by Hollywood every day. I keep getting sent these scripts, and offers coming through to direct this and direct that. My problem is that I don't want to spend two hours watching them, much less two years making them.
3
[on the ending of The Mist (2007)] That's one of the reasons we shot it so quickly and cheaply, because of that ending. I wound up making it for about half the budget that I had been offered, which came with the caveat that I changed the ending, and I didn't know what another ending would have been, frankly. And I think trying to adjust it would have felt like a total sellout to me. Honestly, it's the ending I had in mind, and whether you love the ending or hate the ending, I stand by it. I think cinema is an art form, it's all expression. I thought, "Okay, let's make it for half that budget and keep that ending, so I can make the movie I set out to make". Otherwise, I'm just a hired monkey.
4
[on his struggles getting "Fahrenheit 451" made] Hollywood doesn't trust smart material, if you show them a really smart script. I actually had a studio head read that script and say, "Wow, that's the best and smartest script that I've read since running this studio but I can't possibly greenlight it". I asked why and he says, "How am I going to get 13-year-olds to show up at the theater?" And I said, "Well, let's make a good movie and I bet that will take care of itself". But that argument cut absolutely no ice. The movie was basically too smart for this person, too metaphorical, etc., etc. It's a bit of a battle you've got to fight. When you're faced with it, how do you overcome that prejudice?
5
Stanley Kubrick was a big inspiration. People accuse me of never using my own material. But when did Kubrick? You look at his films and they are completely unique . . . completely separate entities. Sometimes an artist rises above his source material. I'd like to think that my films are personal enough to exist without hearkening back to their respective novels.
6
[on The Shawshank Redemption (1994)] I really don't think you can get tired of the kind of loving reaction that people have for this movie. It seems to have become its own ambassador to the world. It does mean something to people, and that's so fantastic to me. How many people have even one thing like that in their lives? If [my] obituary is, "Frank 'Shawshank Redemption' Darabont died today at the age of"--hopefully--"110", that would be awesome. Of course, I hope people check out the other films I've made, too, and I hope they enjoy them and I hope I get to make some more that they enjoy. But, hey, if the one thing I'm remembered for is "Shawshank", why on Earth would I complain about that? Few people are remembered for anything.
7
The human race is fundamentally insane. If you put two of us into a room together we're soon gonna start figuring out good reasons to kill one another.
8
The Majestic (2001) is a movie I'm very proud of and I really love. It achieved exactly what I set out to make. And I find it very moving. It's a very sweet and quaint movie. That's always a tough sell.
9
If you look at a classic horror movie like The Exorcist (1973), part of what makes it so scary is that it feels so damn real. If you add a layer of too much hysterical, theatrical reality, then audiences take it less seriously. But if you play it for absolute reality, then the dread and the horror - which is why we go to horror movies in the first place - is reinforced.
10
[on his rejected script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) (aka Indiana Jones 4)] Steven [Steven Spielberg] was very, very happy with the script and said it was the best draft of anything since Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). That's really high praise and gave me a real sense of accomplishment, especially when you love the material you're working on as much as I love the "Indiana Jones" films. And then you have George Lucas read it and say, "Yeah, I don't think so, I don't like it". And then he resets it to zero when Spielberg is ready to shoot it that coming year, [which] is a real kick to the nuts. You can only waste so much time and so many years of your life on experiences like that, you can only get so emotionally invested and have the rug pulled out from under you before you say, "Enough of that".
11
[on Stephen King from an interview in Creative Screenwriting] We have a joke now - because the first two films I directed were period prison movies - that my directing career will stall unless he writes another period prison story.
12
[on Quentin Tarantino from an interview in Creative Screenwriting] I find Quentin's work very interesting, because he does dabble so well in the nihilistic world, but yet, there's a real streak of humanity in his work. It's not about the nihilism, it's about people in a sense operating as honorably as they can in a nihilistic world.
13
[October 1994, in "Premiere" magazine] If you're going to succeed, you've got to be like one of those punch-drunk fighters in the old Warner Bros. boxing pictures: too stupid to fall down, you just keep slugging and stay on your feet.
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Fact
1
He was short listed as a director for The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016) and eventually agreed to co-write and direct the film before dropping out.
2
Was hired in 2004 to write the script for Mission: Impossible III (2006) after screenwriters Robert Towne and Dean Georgaris failed to deliver good enough drafts. Darabont's script would get polished by Joe Carnahan who was originally attached to direct following David Fincher's departure. Eventually, Cruise hired J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci to write the script for the project.
Currently working on adapting "The Mist," a short story by Stephen King, into a film. No studio announcement has been made as of October 2004, but if all goes on schedule, the final product should see theatrical release in the second half of 2006. (Source: Daniel Robert Epstein's interview with Frank Darabont at http://suicidegirls.com/words/Frank+Darabont/ ) [October 2004]
5
In Shreveport, Lousiana in the middle of Pre-production on "Stephen King's The Mist" [January 2007]
His first novella "Walpuski's Typewriter" was published in 2005.
11
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) is ranked #23 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time.
12
The D-Day sequence at Normandy, in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998), was an addition that Darabont himself proposed during script revisions.
13
After closely working for more than a year with Steven Spielberg on a script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), the script was personally rejected by producer George Lucas who had taken it upon himself to rewrite the script to his liking. Spielberg loved the script, but deferred to longtime pal Lucas on the matter.
14
Wrote a draft of the screenplay for Collateral (2004).
TV Series developed by - 91 episodes, 2010 - 2017 written by - 3 episodes, 2010 - 2011 creator - 1 episode, 2017 teleplay - 1 episode, 2010 teleplay by - 1 episode, 2010
Mob City
TV Series created by - 6 episodes, 2013 written by - 3 episodes, 2013
The Mist
2007
screenplay
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The Phantom Train of Doom
1999
Video written by
The Green Mile
1999
screenplay
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Adventures in the Secret Service
1999
Video screenplay - segment "Austria"
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Daredevils of the Desert
1999
Video written by
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Oganga, the Giver and Taker of Life
1999
Video screenplay - segments "German East Africa", "Congo"
Black Cat Run
1998
TV Movie story / teleplay
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father
1996
TV Movie written by
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1994
screenplay
The Shawshank Redemption
1994
screenplay
Nightshift Collection
1994
Video
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
1992-1993
TV Series writer - 5 episodes
Tales from the Crypt
TV Series teleplay - 1 episode, 1992 screenplay - 1 episode, 1990
Two-Fisted Tales
1992
TV Movie segment "Showdown"
The Fly II
1989
screenplay
The Blob
1988
screenplay
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
1987
screenplay
The Woman in the Room
1983
Short writer
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Green Mile: Walking the Mile
2014
Video documentary executive producer
Mob City
2013
TV Series executive producer - 6 episodes
The Walking Dead
2010-2012
TV Series executive producer - 19 episodes
The Mist
2007
producer
Raines
2007
TV Series executive producer - 1 episode
Collateral
2004
executive producer
The Salton Sea
2002
producer
The Majestic
2001
producer
Walking the Mile
2000
Video documentary short executive producer
The Green Mile
1999
producer
Black Cat Run
1998
TV Movie executive producer
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Mob City
2013
TV Series 4 episodes
The Walking Dead
2010
TV Series 1 episode
The Mist
2007
The Shield
2007
TV Series 1 episode
Raines
2007
TV Series 1 episode
The Majestic
2001
The Green Mile
1999
The Shawshank Redemption
1994
Nightshift Collection
1994
Video
Buried Alive
1990
TV Movie
The Woman in the Room
1983
Short
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Huntsman: Winter's War
2016
script doctor - uncredited
Godzilla
2014
script doctor - uncredited
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
2010
Video documentary archival material provided by
When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist'
2008
Video documentary short archival materials & photos provided by
Miracles and Mystery: Creating 'The Green Mile'
2006
Video documentary materials
Collateral
2004
script doctor - uncredited
Minority Report
2002
script doctor - uncredited
Saving Private Ryan
1998
script doctor - uncredited
The Fan
1996
script doctor - uncredited
Eraser
1996
script doctor - uncredited
Hell Night
1981
production assistant
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
The United Monster Talent Agency
2010
Short
Director #1
Entourage
2008-2009
TV Series
Frank Darabont
King Kong
2005
Gunner
Vampires
1998
Man with Buick
The Shining
1997
TV Mini-Series
Special Appearance
Art Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Trancers
1984
art department assistant
Crimes of Passion
1984
set dresser
Transportation Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Seduction
1982
transportation captain - as Frank A. Darabont
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Nosferatu vs. Father Pipecock & Sister Funk
2014
special thanks
Zombie Whisperer
TV Series special thanks - 1 episode, 2012 additional thanks - 1 episode, 2012
2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams
2010
special thanks
Dark Country
2009
special thanks
The Outlaw Emmett Deemus and the Porno Queen
2008
Short very special thanks
Warner at War
2008
TV Movie documentary special thanks
Drew Struzan: An Appreciation of an Artist
2008
Video documentary short special thanks
Monsters Among Us: The Creature FX of 'The Mist'
2008
Video documentary short special thanks
The Horror of It All: The Visual FX of 'The Mist'
2008
Video documentary short special thanks
The Mist: Taming the Beast - The Making of Scene 35
2008
Video documentary short special thanks
When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist'
2008
Video documentary short special thanks
Promoting Dystopia: Rendering the Poster Art
2007
Video documentary short special thanks
Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II
2007
TV Series special thanks - 1 episode
Horrors of War
2006
thanks
RKO Production 601: The Making of 'Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World'
2005
Video documentary special thanks
La femme dans la chambre
2005
Short special thanks
Made Men: The 'GoodFellas' Legacy
2004
Video documentary short special thanks
An American Rhapsody
2001
the producers and director wish to thank
The Mask
1994
special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
On Story
2014
TV Series
Himself
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster
2013
Documentary
Himself
Fear Himself: The Life and Crimes of Freddy Krueger
2012
Video short
Himself
Hollywood's Best Film Directors
2011
TV Series
Himself - Interviewee / Film Director
Nightmare Factory
2011
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Clint Eastwood's West
2011
Video documentary short
Himself
Last Call with Carson Daly
2010
TV Series
Himself
Post Mortem with Mick Garris
2010
TV Series
Himself
The Making of The Walking Dead
2010
Documentary short
Director / Producer / Writer
Project: Comic-Con
2010
TV Series
Himself - Interviewee
More Tales from the Script
2010
Video documentary
Himself
Bob Burns' Hollywood Halloween
2009
Video documentary
Himself
Tales from the Script
2009
Documentary
Himself
Starz Inside: Fantastic Flesh
2008
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Drew Struzan: An Appreciation of an Artist
2008
Video documentary short
Himself
Monsters Among Us: The Creature FX of 'The Mist'
2008
Video documentary short
Himself
The Horror of It All: The Visual FX of 'The Mist'
2008
Video documentary short
Himself
The Mist: Taming the Beast - The Making of Scene 35
2008
Video documentary short
Himself
When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist'
2008
Video documentary short
Himself
Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner
2007
Video documentary
Himself
Deck-A-Rep: The True Nature of Rick Deckard
2007
Video documentary short
Himself
Nexus Generation: Fans & Filmmakers
2007
Video documentary short
Himself
Up Close with Carrie Keagan
2007
TV Series
Himself
Miracles and Mystery: Creating 'The Green Mile'
2006
Video documentary
Himself
Recreating the Eighth Wonder: The Making of 'King Kong'
2006
Video documentary
Himself
100 Porsches and Me
2006
TV Movie documentary
Himself
The Sci-Fi Boys
2006
Documentary
Himself
RKO Production 601: The Making of 'Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World'
2005
Video documentary
Himself
Dinner for Five
2005
TV Series
Himself
Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years Collection
2005
Video documentary
Made Men: The 'GoodFellas' Legacy
2004
Video documentary short
Himself - Director
Behind the Tunes: Man from Wackyland - The Art of Bob Clampett
2004
Video documentary short
Himself
Hope Springs Eternal: A Look Back at 'The Shawshank Redemption'
2004
Video documentary short
Himself
The Shawshank Redemption: Behind the Scenes
2004
Video short
Himself
Artifact from the Future: The Making of 'THX 1138'
2004
Video documentary short
Himself
Charlie Rose
2000-2004
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Irreverent Imagination: The Golden Age of the Looney Tunes
2003
Video documentary
Himself
HBO First Look
2001
TV Series documentary
Himself
The 100 Greatest Films
2001
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature
2001
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Walking the Mile
2000
Video documentary short
Himself - Writer / Director
The 72nd Annual Academy Awards
2000
TV Special
Himself - Nominee: Best Picture & Best Adapted Screenplay
The Miracle of 'The Green Mile'
1999
TV Short documentary
Himself
Stephen King: Shining in the Dark
1999
TV Movie documentary
Himself
The Directors
1997
TV Series documentary
Himself
The 52nd Annual Golden Globe Awards
1995
TV Special
Himself - Nominee: Best Screenplay
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Green Mile: Walking the Mile
2014
Video documentary
Himself
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
2010
Video documentary
Himself
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2011
AFI Award
AFI Awards, USA
TV Program of the Year
The Walking Dead (2010)
2007
Fright Meter Award
Fright Meter Awards
Best Director
The Mist (2007)
2001
Readers' Choice Award
Mainichi Film Concours
Best Foreign Language Film
The Green Mile (1999)
2000
Critics Choice Award
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
Best Screenplay, Adapted
The Green Mile (1999)
1996
Kinema Junpo Award
Kinema Junpo Awards
Best Foreign Language Film
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1996
Readers' Choice Award
Kinema Junpo Awards
Best Foreign Language Film
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1996
Mainichi Film Concours
Mainichi Film Concours
Best Foreign Language Film
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
Studio Crystal Heart Award
Heartland Film Festival
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
Hochi Film Award
Hochi Film Awards
Best Foreign Language Film
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
Humanitas Prize
Humanitas Prize
Feature Film Category
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
Literary Award
PEN Center USA West Literary Awards
Screenplay
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
USC Scripter Award
USC Scripter Award
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1994
ACCA
Awards Circuit Community Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2013
OFTA Television Award
Online Film & Television Association
Best Writing in a Drama Series
The Walking Dead (2010)
2011
DGA Award
Directors Guild of America, USA
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series
The Walking Dead (2010)
2011
TV Quick Award
TV Quick Awards, UK
Best New Drama
The Walking Dead (2010)
2011
WGA Award (TV)
Writers Guild of America, USA
New Series
The Walking Dead (2010)
2008
Saturn Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Director
The Mist (2007)
2001
Nebula Award
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Best Script
The Green Mile (1999)
2000
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Picture
The Green Mile (1999)
2000
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
The Green Mile (1999)
2000
Saturn Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Director
The Green Mile (1999)
2000
Bram Stoker Award
Bram Stoker Awards
Screenplay
The Green Mile (1999)
2000
DGA Award
Directors Guild of America, USA
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
The Green Mile (1999)
2000
OFCS Award
Online Film Critics Society Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Green Mile (1999)
2000
USC Scripter Award
USC Scripter Award
The Green Mile (1999)
1999
ACCA
Awards Circuit Community Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Green Mile (1999)
1998
OFTA Television Award
Online Film & Television Association
Best Direction of a Motion Picture or Miniseries
From the Earth to the Moon (1998)
1995
Oscar
Academy Awards, USA
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
Golden Globe
Golden Globes, USA
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
Saturn Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Writing
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
1995
Saturn Award
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
Best Writing
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
CFCA Award
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
Best Screenplay
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
DGA Award
Directors Guild of America, USA
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1995
WGA Award (Screen)
Writers Guild of America, USA
Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published