It’s a given that when any literary property is adapted for the big screen, omissions and additions will be made, and Frank Darabont’s THE MIST will be no exception, as leading man Thomas Jane tells Fango. The PUNISHER star checked in with Fangoria while “up north” (i.e. Toronto) on reshoots for his latest, John Madden’s KILLSHOT. Our chat is geared more toward his work on David Arquette’s April release THE TRIPPER (check it out in Fango #262, on sale in March), but THE MIST is a hard topic to ignore.
“It’s the best horror script I’ve ever read,” Jane says. Busy with his current work, he tells us he missed the most recent MIST development—we give him the scoop that Andre Braugher and Laurie Holden have been cast as his co-stars—but back to those changes. “If you’ve read the novella, you understand the potential of the film, and Darabont has surpassed that,” he continues. “The script is missing the last 10 pages because he won’t divulge them to anybody—he’s changing the ending.” Why a veil of secrecy when anyone and their grandmother can venture down to the local bookstore, find the original King short and read how it ends? Well, without going into details, if you’re familiar with THE MIST’s conclusion, “the script we have ends with that—but Darabont has added an extra five minutes,” Jane reveals.
Definitive ending or no, Jane is jazzed about Darabont’s approach to the material. “We’re treating it as if it really happened. If you talk about something like 9/11 or a suicide bombing—the reality of that and how people react—that’s terrifying, and that’s how we’re gonna do this. Not as a monster movie, but as a story where this is actually happening to real people and [exploring] how they deal with it. Some people go into denial. That’s what’s exciting. I’m the most excited I’ve been about a film in a long time.”
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