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Frank Darabont in a nutshell


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Frank Darabont who wrote the script for the new Indy movie is no small fish as a writer/director. Here's a list of the films he made.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Green Mile (1999)

The Majestic (2001)

Everyone knows Steven Spielberg can get mushy from time to time. If you've seen Darabont's films you know that, he too, is no stranger to mushiness or soft sentiment. What will happen if these two people join forces? Maybe there's another person needed. A person that guards the movie from being too schmaltzy. Could it be that person is... Lucas ? Will he be the one to bring balance to Indy 4? Who knows.

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Alex Cremers

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Darabont is no stranger to Indy either, as he has written for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Of course if you don't consider that Indiana Jones...

Neil

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Darabont is no stranger to Indy either, as he has written for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.  Of course if you don't consider that Indiana Jones...

Neil

I sure don't. That was educational television for children.

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Alex Cremers

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OK thanks! I am just glad to see Lucas isn't the screenwriter.

This makes me feel even more confident about the film.

LEts hope Spielberg makes this the Indy movie to end all Induy movies.

The big question is: WHAT WILL INDY BE GOING AFTER THIS TIME?

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I don't know- Darabont doesn't seem to have too many great ideas.

I didn't like Green Mile- I couldn't believe that it was the same author, director, writer, composer, set in the same circumstances, in vaguely the same time period. It was long, often boring, uninspiring and I found it to hae nothing good, except for some of the supporting performances.

Majestic was good- but it was a Frank Capra film with a twist. Not too hard to come up with.

But on the other hand- Shawshank of course was great, and he seems like a really nice guy, very confident, a fan of Indy, and I saw this 40 something minute interview with him where he sounded great, popping with exciting ideas.

Being an optimist, I'm paying more attention to the second part than the first.

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well, since this one is gonna be set in the 50's or so, there's only one possibility.

A Spektor.

8O

You did say your clock was correct?

Neil - Glad SPECTRE didn't go after the Spektor

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THe Green Mile is a very good movie. :D He's a talented screenplay writer. None of the Indy screenplays have been by Lucas, he just came up with the plots. They seem to have picked a talented guy, lets wait and see, I wonder if he can pull off the comedy and action of indy.

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IMO just the fact that he makes a movie with so many similarities to Shawshank makes GM lose some points. And I didn't like the idea of Michael Clarck Duncan's character as a messiah of sorts, with him being a modern, smaller scale, Christ.

But in the end- I just din't find the movie compelling. I didn't like the main two characters.

And Kasdan is a fantastic writer. Too bad about Dreamcatcher, and how awful that was. All of his other movies were interesting (although I can't admit to loving many of them).

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I imagine this one will be about some kind of Alien artificant. It would fit in well with the 50's cold war "alien sightings stuff.  

Could be wrong though.

I hope it's a local enemy, like ToD, and not the Soviets. That would make it too Bond-like. It's too bad they wait so long. Nazis were part of the main reason that Indy felt like an old-time adventure.

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Just some brief opinions on the many issues raised in this thread already:

- Darabont seems like a fairly decent and talented guy. I at least trust in his ability to write a good script. And his stint working on Young Indy has got to help with this latest project somewhat ... Just think, it could've been Lucas and Jonathan Hales on writing duties (Hales was also a contributor to Young Indy though ;) )

- The Green Mile struck me as a fairly decent film. The sound is excellent and the cinematogaphy is fairly decent too. Certainly it is overlong and it is entirely too similar to The Shawshank Redemption, but it's also an excellent adaptation of the Stephen King novellas, which was probably one of the things I found most appealing about it ...

- ... though it's not as good a cinematic distillation of Stephen King's various eccentricities as the much maligned Dreamcatcher. I seem to be one of the few people who loved, let alone liked this film :).

- Similarly Lawrence Kasdan is indeed a fantastic scribe and he's a none too shabby director either. See Dreamcatcher above as well as Body Heat for those people who think that's a piss-poor example of this man's talent. I look forward to seeing more of the films he has made.

- On the issue of Indy IV's subject matter, I fear that if it is to be set in the 1950s, then the Soviets may very well have to be the prime targets. Hell, they're not around anymore so who's going to complain? ;) Maybe the North Koreas will get a look in (Korean War: 1950-1953) although given current international circumstances I think that'll be highly unlikely. What might be interesting would be something connected with ICBMs and Sputnik etc although as many of you have already pointed out this'll probably be a bit too James Bond-y and too 'Space Age-y' for the Indiana Jones aesthetic.

CYPHER

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Kasdan's more than a scribe he wrote much of the dialogue and much of the details in the movie. And had the same duties on the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (which was wasn't happy with, wanted it to be more like TESB but Lucas didn't). He however didn't TOD and TLC.

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Anyhow, I predict at least one unbelievable mushy moment between Connery and Forced, somewhere towards the ending.

Spielberg + Darabont = mushiness awaits around the corner.

Spielberg + Darabont + Lucas = if Lucas functions as a catalyst then it might be saved.

Spielberg + Darabont + Lucas + Forced = UNKNOWN

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Alex Cremers

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.... See Dreamcatcher.....

I do not like to abuse myself. Easily the worst movie for every person involved, a totaly pointless and terrible movie.

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Connery is not in the movie yet, and he said he doesn't think he'll be asked.

Has this been confirmed?

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Sounds like a good idea.... but then Connery is now like 74! And it's been done in the last crusade. Heh.

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I don't know if he's young enough for the humor. He doesn't seem to bursting with the goofy quality he had in the original films. Even in HH, which is a buddy action/comedy- almost none of the humor seems to penetrate his laconic face.

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Well, whatta ya know, Nobody likes Lucas.

Although, to be fair, at least with the original trilogy, he was very honest to the series. But I think that has changed in 15 years.

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Sirs of the round table! Frank Darabont made movies out of Stephen King books! He is not responsible for Green Mile being like Shawshank. But he decided to make them into movies. Somebody in the know, compare the dialogue to see how much was taken from the book! I found the Young Indys he wrote to be somewhat boring, but perhaps its due to the history lesson format of the programs.

Let's remember that George Lucas wrote the Indy4 story already. I like Lucas’ stories, damn it! I think Darabont would do fine with the dialogue. Of course we know that these scripts are often changed a lot by Spielberg on the spot which accounts for much of the humor in Raiders. PS, Lucas and Spielberg blasters, realize that people found the humor in Raiders to be as out of place and annoying as the Prequel Humor! HA! HAHAHHA! FOOLS!

Want proof?

See the Interview with Kasdan in 1980

http://apartment42.com/kasdanRoLA.htm

I quoth-

[Another annoyance for filmgoers are some of Raiders' incongruous comedic moments, including Sallah's bursting into song after bidding farewell to Indy, and Marion Ravenwood's accidentally hitting Indy on the head with a full-sized mirror. These off-beat touches suggest that perhaps Spielberg couldn't get his last film, 1941, a slapstick World War 11 comedy, totally out of his mind. "Those broader comedy elements were created independently from me," says Kasdan. "They bothered me quite a bit, but it balances out, because some really good things in Raiders, such as lndy's confrontation with the Arab swordsman, the classroom scene, and the Nazi's coat hanger, were also innovated by Steven."]

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Another annoyance for filmgoers are some of Raiders' incongruous comedic moments, including Sallah's bursting into song after bidding farewell to Indy, and Marion Ravenwood's accidentally hitting Indy on the head with a full-sized mirror.

Actually I like both scenes very...very much, the mirror scene has me in stitches every time.

I also love the "nunchucks that turn out to be a coathanger" bit.

This film has so many little trow-away touches added to it, absolutely brilliant.

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Having just read the news about Darabont's script being given the thumb down by Lucas, I wonder why they don't consider Kasdan? They should just tell him to write like he did on Raiders - to BECOME 1979 Kasdan and forget the sequels, and just write another Indy script as though he never stopped or made any mid life crisis movies starring Kevin Kline or Kevin Costner's shoe.

OR.....HYUCK AND KATZ!

OR......

Just film "Indiana Jones and the Monkey King" by Chris Columbus!

Jesse the f$#kface

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the mirror scene has me in stitches every time.

:thumbup:

I also love the "nunchucks that turn out to be a coathanger" bit.

Which was filmed with Christopher Lee in 1941 but cut out!

Neil

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You don't say!

Well there is still a chance he may be doing the script. He may just have to do a revised one.

I still dont understand how an accomplished script writer like Darabont could submit a script Lucas didn;t like. Then again ........ this is Lucas. However, I just feel like as if even if Lucas' judgement of quality isn't exactly the utmost he'd still have faith in Darabont that his script was worthy of the franchise.

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Some things don't mix too well, like quality and bad taste. George needs an anonymous yes-sayer. Someone with less personality than Darabont.

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Alex Cremers

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