Darabont and Holden on 'Fahrenheit 451'
Frank Darabont's going to be making a lot of headlines this week, since his ambitious take on Stephen King's classic novella "The Mist" opens next Wednesday. But Darabont's already talking about his next project, which will be either another King adaptation--of the horror scribe's [writing as Richard Bachman] The Long Walk, or his dream project, a new adaptation of sci-fi grandmaster Ray Bradbury's classic novel Fahrenheit 451. Darabont talked to us about it in an interview earlier today (the complete transcript of which we'll post soon), and his Mist star Laurie Holden [of The X-Files] told us she should have a part in the film.
Darabont said his adaptation would differ "in every way" from that previously filmed by the late French director Francois Truffaut. "I don?t like the Truffaut film," said Darabont. "I think it missed the intention of the book by a very wide margin. I think Truffaut was a great filmmaker; I just don?t believe that that's one of his great movies. The book is a particularly passionate piece of work, and that was a particularly cold piece of filmmaking. If it were a wonderful movie, I wouldn't dream of doing it again."
As for where he is now with the project, Darabont said, "I wrote the script and I'm trying to get the project mounted, which is another reason the strike is a pain in the ass, because there's so much uncertainty, and nobody knows when schedules are going to work out, etcetera. So everything right now is on a hold basis, unfortunately. Wish me luck, because that?s the one I always wanted to make."
The film rights to Fahrenheit were previously held by Mel Gibson, who upon aborting his long-in-development version, turned them over to Darabont. Darabont claimed that Gibson's decision allowed his dream to begin taking shape. "Mel?s been very kind, very generous."
Meanwhile, in a separate interview, Laurie Holden, who starred in Darabont's The Majestic as well as The Mist, revealed to us that she expects to have a role in Fahrenheit 451. "I've been told," she said, smiling. "I've been told. But I think you need to ask Frank that, because it's not official until it's official."
