Frank Darabont (born 28 January 1959 in Montbéliard, France) is a director, Hungarian-born American film producer and screenwriter.

Biography

Frank Darabont was born in a refugee camp in Montbéliard, France. His parents left Hungary after the Hungarian revolution of 1956. While still an infant, his family moved to United States.

Darabont came into the world of cinema at age 20. One of his early works was a short film entitled “Dollar Baby” from the adaptation of a novel by Stephen King (1983). In this short, King awarded Darabont rights to adapt to film his Novella “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”, then shot.

Darabont shot his first feature film in 1990. Called “Buried Alive” and was an American cable television movie. Success came when in 1994 was the adaptation of the King. The film was called “The Shawshank Redemption” and Darabont was adapt the screenplay and directing it. Film Darabont was candidate for the Oscar for best adapted screenplay, and get another nomination in the category of best foreign film. However, he failed the nomination in the category of best direction.

Before beginning her career as a director, Darabont already had distinguished writing scripts for movies of terror among those included “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”,”The Blob” or “The Fly II”. In addition, has written several screenplays for television of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg series “the young Indiana Jones”.

After a period of five years, Darabont returned to directing in 1999. The film was titled “The Green Mile”, and Darabont was in charge of writing it, produce it and direct it. As happened with his previous work, the film was based on a play by Stephen King, and was very well received by critics. And as also happened previously, the film was nominated for the Academy Awards in the categories of best film and best adapted screenplay, but did not get the nomination in the category of best direction. This film was followed in 2001 “The Majestic”, although this film was not as successful as the previous ones.

Frank Darabont is regarded as one of the screenwriter most talented Hollywood, having advised, for example, in two of the Steven Spielberg movie scripts: “Saving Private Ryan” and “Minority Report”.

Filmography

* A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), writer.

* Buried Alive (1990, TV), director.

* The Shawshank Redemption, (1994); Director and screenwriter.

* The Green Mile (1999); Director, screenwriter and producer.

* The Majestic (2001), director and producer.

* The Mist (2007), director, screenwriter and producer.

* The Walking Dead (2010, TV), screenwriter, director of the pilot.