--- name: "Frank Darabont" canonical: "https://film.one/person/frank-darabont" fi1m_id: "frank-darabont" imdb_id: "nm0001104" tmdb_id: 4027 wikidata_id: "Q295445" roles: ["Director","Writer","Producer"] born: "28 January 1959" reviewed_on_fi1m: 8 average_fi1m_score: 77 average_as: "director" average_over: 5 updated: "2026-10-05T03:39:40.884731+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Frank Darabont ## Identity Frank Darabont - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/frank-darabont - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** frank-darabont - **IMDb ID:** nm0001104 - **TMDB ID:** 4027 - **Wikidata ID:** Q295445 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Darabont, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q295445, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001104/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/4027 Director and writer. Born 28 January 1959 in Montbéliard, Doubs, France. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Writer, Producer - **Born:** 28 January 1959, Montbéliard, Doubs, France - **Active:** 1994–2016 - **Also known as:** Frank A. Darabont, Ardeth Bey, Frank Árpád Darabont, Ferenc Árpád Darabont, Darabont Ferenc Árpád - **Titles on Fi1m:** 8: 5 directing, 1 writing, 1 producing, 1 other - **Frequently works with:** [Adam Fierro](https://film.one/person/adam-fierro.md), [Billy Gierhart](https://film.one/person/billy-gierhart.md), [Charles H. Eglee](https://film.one/person/charles-h-eglee.md), [Clark Johnson](https://film.one/person/clark-johnson.md), [Curtis Gwinn](https://film.one/person/curtis-gwinn.md), [Glen Mazzara](https://film.one/person/glen-mazzara.md), [Guy Ferland](https://film.one/person/guy-ferland.md), [Gwyneth Horder-Payton](https://film.one/person/gwyneth-horder-payton.md) - **Academy Awards:** 3 Oscar nominations - **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as director, over 5 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 70 (3), 2000s 83 (3), 2010s 72 (2) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 77 to 75 across 5 titles - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Genres:** Drama 4, Action & Adventure 3, Crime 3, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 2, Fantasy 1, Mystery 1 - **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $315m across 2 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Darabont, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q295445, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001104/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/4027 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*Stranger Things*](https://film.one/tv/stranger-things.md) (77), [*The Walking Dead*](https://film.one/tv/the-walking-dead.md) (68) - **Disney+:** [*The Shield*](https://film.one/tv/the-shield.md) (84) - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Shawshank Redemption*](https://film.one/film/the-shawshank-redemption.md) (84) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Frank Darabont > Frank Darabont earns the warmth of his dramas by giving friendships time to develop. We rate him for that patience and his handling of actors, with reservations about scripts that keep reminding us whom to admire. Tim Robbins holds himself carefully in *The Shawshank Redemption* (1994), making Andy Dufresne's composure look like something that requires effort. Frank Darabont gives him and Morgan Freeman's Red time to become friends. We were moved by the strain beneath Robbins's reserve: keeping himself together is a task he never seems able to put down. Darabont is a persuasive director of actors, particularly when he lets us notice that work without explaining its value. His early screenplays included *A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors* (1987) and *The Blob* (1988). The move to *The Shawshank Redemption* brought Stephen King's writing into a prison drama whose chief interest was companionship. *The Green Mile* (1999) returned to King and another prison setting. After *The Majestic* (2001), *The Mist* (2007) took him back to horror. On *The Shawshank Redemption*, editor Richard Francis-Bruce gives Robbins and Freeman enough time together for their friendship to feel credible. The length is largely earned because waiting becomes part of their lives, rather than a delay before the story can continue. Thomas Newman's score supports their warmth without drowning out the quieter acting. There are nevertheless passages where Darabont has already told us what to feel, and the music need not tell us again. That insistence is our main reservation about him. His screenplay makes Andy so reliably admirable that we are sometimes left with little to discover, and the division between decency and cruelty is too tidy. Darabont is entitled to concentrate on survival rather than document every part of prison life. Even so, his reluctance to let us doubt these men makes their confinement seem simpler than it should. We would have liked him to trust the actors more. Television took him to *The Walking Dead* (2010), which he developed, and *Mob City* (2013), which he created. After more than a decade away from directing, he returned for two episodes of *Stranger Things* in 2025. Its directors maintain a consistent look and pace, though the programme's ever-expanding mysteries are not always worth the trouble. Start with *The Shawshank Redemption*, and forgive the moral instruction for the sake of Robbins and Freeman. ## Biography Frank Darabont is an American screenwriter, director and producer. He was born Ferenc Árpád Darabont on 28 January 1959 in Montbéliard, France, to Hungarian parents who fled Budapest after the 1956 uprising; the family moved to the United States when he was an infant and settled in Los Angeles. Darabont began his career as a screenwriter on horror films including *A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors* (1987) and *The Blob* (1988). He is known for directing and writing adaptations of Stephen King stories: *The Shawshank Redemption* (1994), *The Green Mile* (1999) and *The Mist* (2007). He developed and executive-produced the first season of the series *The Walking Dead* (2010). In 2025 he directed two episodes of the final season of *Stranger Things*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (8) ### Directed (5) — the average rests on these - *Stranger Things* (2016), Fi1m 77, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/stranger-things.md) - *The Walking Dead* (2010), Fi1m 68, Writer, Creator, Author, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-walking-dead.md) - *The Shield* (2002), Fi1m 84, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-shield.md) - *The Green Mile* (1999), Fi1m 73, Director, Writer, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-green-mile.md) - *The Shawshank Redemption* (1994), Fi1m 84, Screenplay, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-shawshank-redemption.md) ### Wrote (1) - *Mary Shelley's Frankenstein* (1994), Fi1m 54, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/mary-shelleys-frankenstein.md) ### Produced (1) - *Collateral* (2004), Fi1m 85, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/collateral.md) ### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited - *King Kong* (2005), Fi1m 81, as Biplane Gunner (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/king-kong-2005.md) ## Complete filmography (42) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Light in the Darkness: The Impact of Night of The Living Dead* (2018), Thanks - *Stranger Things* (2016), series, Director — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/tv/stranger-things.md) - *Walking the Mile* (2014), Executive Producer - *Mob City* (2013), series, Director, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator - *The Walking Dead* (2010), series, as (uncredited) · Writer, Executive Producer, Director, Creator, Author, Thanks — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-walking-dead.md) - *The United Monster Talent Agency* (2010), as Director #1 - *When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist'* (2008), Thanks - *Monsters Among Us: The Creature FX of 'The Mist'* (2008), Thanks - *Drew Struzan: An Appreciation of An Artist* (2008), Thanks - *The Mist* (2007), Screenplay, Producer, Director - *Raines* (2007), series, Director - *King Kong* (2005), as Biplane Gunner (uncredited) — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/king-kong-2005.md) - *Collateral* (2004), Executive Producer — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/collateral.md) - *Entourage* (2004), series, as Frank Darabont — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/entourage.md) - *The Shield* (2002), series, Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-shield.md) - *The Salton Sea* (2002), Producer - *The Majestic* (2001), Producer, Director - *Walking the Mile: The Making of The Green Mile* (2000), Executive Producer - *The Green Mile* (1999), Director, Producer, Writer — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/the-green-mile.md) - *The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Daredevils of the Desert* (1999), Writer - *The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Adventures in the Secret Service* (1999), Screenplay - *The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Phantom Train of Doom* (1999), Screenplay - *The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Oganga, the Giver and Taker of Life* (1999), Screenplay - *Vampires* (1998), as Man with Buick - *Black Cat Run* (1998), Writer, Executive Producer - *The Shining* (1997), series, as Living Room Ghost - *The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father* (1996), Writer - *Mary Shelley's Frankenstein* (1994), Writer — Fi1m 54, [page](https://film.one/film/mary-shelleys-frankenstein.md) - *The Shawshank Redemption* (1994), Screenplay, Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-shawshank-redemption.md) - *Nightshift Collection* (1994), Director - *The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles* (1992), series, Writer - *Two-Fisted Tales* (1992), Writer - *Buried Alive* (1990), Director - *Tales from the Crypt* (1989), series, Writer, Screenplay - *The Fly II* (1989), Screenplay - *The Blob* (1988), Screenplay - *A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors* (1987), Screenplay - *Trancers* (1984), Art Department Assistant - *Crimes of Passion* (1984), as Set Dresser - *The Woman in the Room* (1983), Director, Screenplay, Editor - *The Seduction* (1982), as Transportation Captain - *Hell Night* (1981), Production Assistant ## Gallery - ![Frank Darabont](https://film.one/media/person/23530/gallery-acdbafc9cb8e.jpg) Frank Darabont — PopCultureGeek.com, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Frank_Darabont_at_the_PaleyFest_2011_-_The_Walking_Dead_panel.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Frank Darabont (2010)](https://film.one/media/person/23530/gallery-ebfc6c74a05b.jpg) Frank Darabont (2010) — popculturegeek.com, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Comic-Con_2010_-_Frank_Darabont_and_Drew_Struzan_sign_the_limited_edition_Walking_Dead_poster.jpg/1280px-Comic-Con_2010_-_Frank_Darabont_and_Drew_Struzan_sign_the_limited_edition_Walking_Dead_poster.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![photo © 2011 popculturegeek.com taken by Doug Kline If you're interested in higher resolution versions of my images, contact me via my profile page.](https://film.one/media/person/23530/gallery-1d191e7d0a00.jpg) photo © 2011 popculturegeek.com taken by Doug Kline If you're interested in higher resolution versions of my images, contact me via my profile page. — pop culture geek from Los Angeles, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/PaleyFest_2011_-_The_Walking_Dead_panel_-_director_Frank_Darabont_and_producer_Gale_Ann_Hurd_sign_for_fans.jpg/1280px-PaleyFest_2011_-_The_Walking_Dead_panel_-_director_Frank_Darabont_and_producer_Gale_Ann_Hurd_sign_for_fans.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Frank Darabont](https://film.one/media/person/23530/gallery-d148b51dbdd6.jpg) Frank Darabont — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 3 nominated - 2000: Best Picture (nominated), for *The Green Mile* - 2000: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Green Mile* - 1995: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *The Shawshank Redemption* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/frank-darabont