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The Mist (film)
Encyclopedia
The Mist is a 2007 American science-fiction horror film based on the 1980 novella
of the same name
by Stephen King
. The film is written and directed by Frank Darabont
, who had previously adapted Stephen King's works The Shawshank Redemption
and The Green Mile
. Darabont had been interested in adapting The Mist for the big screen since the 1980s. The film features an ensemble cast
including Thomas Jane
, Marcia Gay Harden
, Laurie Holden
, Samuel Witwer
, Toby Jones
, Nathan Gamble
, Andre Braugher
, and Frances Sternhagen
.
Darabont began filming The Mist in Shreveport
, Louisiana
in February 2007. The director revised the ending of the film to be darker than the novella's ending, a change to which Stephen King was amenable. Unique creature designs were also sought to differ from creatures in past films. The Mist was commercially released in the United States and Canada on November 21, 2007. The Mist performed well at the box office and received generally positive reviews.
Although a monster movie
, the central theme is what ordinary people will be driven to do under extraordinary circumstances. The plot revolves around members of the small town of Bridgton, Maine, who after a severe thunderstorm
that causes the power to go out the night before meet in a supermarket
to pick up supplies. While they struggle to survive an unnatural mist which envelops the town and conceals vicious, otherworldly monsters, extreme tensions rise among the survivors.
in which a window to their house was broken, David Drayton (Thomas Jane
) and his wife Stephanie (Kelly Collins Lintz) witness an unusual mist outside their lakeside home. Concerned with cleaning up in the aftermath of the storm, David and his neighbor, Brent Norton (Andre Braugher
), along with David's eight-year-old son, Billy (Nathan Gamble
), go to the local grocery store to buy supplies to fix the storm damage. Like the rest of the community, the store lost its power. Outside, an increasing amount of police activity in the streets draws the attention of the patrons, including the town fire whistle going off. Dan Miller (Jeffrey DeMunn
) runs into the store with a bloody nose warning of something dangerous in the oncoming mist. After seeing the mist cover the parking lot and hearing the scream of a man who ventures outside, the store patrons decide to seal themselves inside. The building is soon shaken by violent tremors, visibility reduces to nothing, and the customers grow more and more nervous about the fate of the screaming man; a siege mentality
takes hold of them.
Unstable religious fanatic Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden
) suspects this is the beginning of Armageddon
. A woman, visibly shaken, exclaims that she has two young children at home and must get back to them. Despite the warnings from Dan Miller not to leave, she implores others for help. No one can look at her and she leaves alone, disappearing into the mist, presumably towards her car. While searching the storeroom, David hears something pushing against the loading dock door. Mechanics Myron (David Jensen) and Jim (William Sadler
), bag-boy Norm (Chris Owen
), and assistant manager Ollie Weeks (Toby Jones
) come to investigate the noise. Norm attempts to go under the door to repair the outside generator, against Drayton's warnings. Suddenly long tentacles covered with teeth-filled mouths grip Norm. David and Ollie attempt to free Norm, but fail as he is dragged away screaming and eaten alive by the tentacles. The four of them report to the rest of the refugees about the monster, but some are skeptical. Once confirmed that the danger is only outside, everyone works to block the front of the store with duct tape, dog food bags and an ice machine. David and Ollie fail to convince Norton and other skeptical patrons going outside is too dangerous. One man agrees to retrieve a shotgun from Cornell's (Buck Taylor
) car. For security, he ties a clothesline around his waist so the others could pull him back in case of danger. They are even more terrified when they can pull back only his severed lower body. As the day goes on there is no sign of Norton or his group.
New creatures appear in the mist that night; enormous flying insects are attracted by the store's lights and pterodactyl-like animals pluck them off of the full-length windows, eventually breaking one and allowing the insects in. As a result Sally is stung by an insect, causing her throat to swell until she suffocates, and Tom Smalley is killed by the pterodactyl creature when it rips the flesh off of his neck. In the ensuing attack, Joe Eagleton is badly burned in an attempt to set the insects on fire. During the attack an insect lands on Mrs. Carmody, but flies away instead of giving her a fatal sting. Viewing this as validation of her beliefs, Carmody quickly gains followers among the distraught people, believing that the world is ending and a human sacrifice
is needed to save them from the wrath of God. Amanda Dumfries (Laurie Holden
) realizes she needs to watch over Billy in case David is not there for him. David and a group of volunteers try to retrieve medical supplies for the severely burned Joe Eagleton from the pharmacy next door, but are attacked by spider-like creatures that spray acidic webbing that melts through clothing and flesh. The webbing kills Mike Hatlen when a spider spits into his face, burning the flesh away, and as he collapses on the floor, a spider rips his neck open, ready to lay more eggs. Another web strikes Joe's brother, Bobby in the leg eventually letting him bleed to death. They discover an army MP encased in webbing, along with other patrons; he tries to warn them but his body suddenly bursts open and baby spider creatures flow out of his gutted body and begin feeding on the dead volunteers as David and the rest flee in horror. Because of the failed expedition, Carmody's following grows stronger, with a visibly shaken Jim becoming one of her most vocal advocates.
When the group discover that two of the soldiers from the Arrowhead Project hung themselves, the remaining soldier, Private Jessup (Samuel Witwer
), reveals that the project - rumored to be an attempt to look into other dimensions
- was the likely origin of the mist, and that the monsters were extra-dimensional beings that used the mist to begin ravaging the town, and possibly, the entire world. At Carmody's command, Jessup becomes a human sacrifice and is stabbed three times before he is thrown outside. Jessup pleads to be let in, but his attempts fail when he is destroyed by an enormous, mantis
-like creature, much to everybody's shock.
The next morning, while they are preparing to leave the store, David and his group are intercepted by Mrs. Carmody, who first demands that Billy be made a sacrifice, but then she decides that David's whole group should be sacrificed as well. Ollie prevents the massacre by shooting Mrs. Carmody, stopping her followers in their tracks. Mrs. Carmody's death causes her ardent followers to suddenly realize what they were doing and they sheepishly allow David's group to leave. Ollie makes it to the car safely, but is then picked up and bisected by the mantis-like creature. After he dies, his gun drops onto the hood of David's jeep. Myron trips on the way out, slowing him, Cornell, and Bud Brown behind. Shortly thereafter, Myron is then killed when the spider-like creature leaps onto his face and rips his flesh away, while Bud Brown and Cornell run away frightened. Cornell is eventually chased and killed by the spiders, and Bud Brown gets scared and runs back to the store, where he is welcomed. Amanda, David, Billy, Dan, and Irene (Frances Sternhagen
) make it safely to the car, but see no sign of the others. Before they leave, David grabs Ollie's dropped gun, almost getting killed by a spider in the process. They drive off, while Mrs. Carmody's stunned ex-followers watch in shock.
Driving through the mist, David returns home to find it destroyed and his wife Stephanie dead, having fallen victim to the spider-like creatures. Heartbroken, he drives the group south, witnessing the destruction left in the wake of the mist. As David continues to drive on, the group encounters a giant tentacled beast towering hundreds of feet tall. Eventually, they run out of gas and pull over to the side of the road, disheartened that they hadn't seen any other survivors. While Billy is sleeping, the four adults discuss their fate, deciding that there is no point in going any further. With four bullets left in the gun and five people in the car, David shoots Amanda, Dan, Irene, and his son, Billy, to spare them violent death by the creatures. Distraught and determined to die, David exits the vehicle, ready to be attacked by whatever is in the mist. A loud approaching noise turns out to be a self-propelled artillery
vehicle, followed by a squad of soldiers equipped with NBC suit
s and flamethrower
s. As the mist clears, several trucks, filled with soldiers and survivors, pass David. Among the survivors is the woman from the supermarket that no one would help, and her two young children. Realizing that they were that close to rescue and that he killed his own son, a distraught David falls to his knees, screaming, while two soldiers look on in confusion.
first read Stephen King
's 1980 novella
The Mist
in the Dark Forces
anthology, and originally expressed interest in directing a film adaptation
for his directing debut. He instead filmed The Shawshank Redemption
, also based on another King novella. In October 1994, after completing The Shawshank Redemption, Darabont reiterated his interest in filming The Mist. Darabont did not immediately follow through, instead directing the 1999 film adaptation
of Stephen King's The Green Mile. Darabont eventually set up a first look deal
for The Mist with Paramount Pictures
, having been entrusted feature film rights by Stephen King. By December 2004, Darabont said that he had begun writing an adapted screenplay for The Mist, and by October 2006, the project moved from Paramount to Dimension Films
, with Darabont attached to direct and actor Thomas Jane
in negotiations to join the cast.
Director Frank Darabont chose to film The Mist after filming the "straighter dramas" The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile because he "wanted to make a very direct, muscular kind of film." Darabont conceived of a new ending in translating the novella for the big screen. Author Stephen King praised Darabont's new ending, describing it as one that would be unsettling for studios. King said, "The ending is such a jolt—wham! It's frightening. But people who go to see a horror movie don't necessarily want to be sent out with a Pollyanna
ending."
Darabont described The Mist as quaint in its elements of monsters and fear of the unknown compared to the contemporary popularity of films with torture porn. The director saw The Mist as a throwback to Paddy Chayefsky
and William Shakespeare
, explaining, "It's people at each other." He highlighted the element of fear in the film in how it compelled people to behave differently. Darabont said, "How primitive do people get? It's Lord of the Flies
that happens to have some cool monsters in it." He also drew parallels to The Twilight Zone
episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
" and the 1944 film Lifeboat
.
In the novella, the character David Drayton - who is married - has a sexual encounter with Amanda Dumfries, who is also married. Darabont did not want to attempt conveying on screen the protagonist being involved in an extramarital affair. The characters in the film, portrayed by Thomas Jane
and Laurie Holden
respectively, instead share a more emotional relationship. Jane explained, "We kind of form a little family, sort of surrogate family where my son and I’m a father and she becomes the mother to the son. We become a little unit as we’re trying to get through this nightmare together." Holden compared the nightmare to what refugees experienced at the Louisiana Superdome
during Hurricane Katrina
.
While the origin of the mist is never explained in great details in the movie, Frank Darabont did write an opening scene in a draft dated 5 August 2005, in which the thunderstorm causes a malfunction at the Arrowhead Project's lab that allows the portal to another dimension to stay open too long. The scene was never filmed.
In December 2006, Jane finalized negotiations with the studio to join the cast. In January 2007, actors Andre Braugher
and Laurie Holden
joined Jane for the cast of The Mist. Production began the following February at StageWorks of Louisiana, a sound stage and movie production facility in Shreveport, Louisiana
. Marcia Gay Harden
and Toby Jones
joined the cast later in the month.
William Sadler
, Jeffrey DeMunn
, and Brian Libby, each of whom appeared in Darabont's previous Stephen King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption
and The Green Mile
, were cast in supporting roles. Sadler had previously played Thomas Jane's role, David Drayton, in a 1986 audio book
version of The Mist. Darabont wanted to cast King in the supporting role that eventually went to Brian Libby, an offer King turned down.
Darabont sought to pursue "a more fluid, ragged documentary
kind of direction" with The Mist, so he contacted the camera crew from the TV series The Shield
, after having directed one episode, to use their style in the film. Darabont attempted to film The Mist digitally
but found that it "wound up looking too beautiful". The director chose to film with 400 ASA from Fujifilm
, which gave footage a grainy effect
.
In the opening shot, David is drawing in his room. The drawing is based on Stephen King
's Dark Tower
series, and the drawing was actually painted by famous movie poster designer Drew Struzan
. Darabont also put in re-productions of his posters and illustrations for John Carpenter
's The Thing, Pan's Labyrinth
, The Shawshank Redemption
, and The Green Mile
, paying a tribute to him.
Darabont collaborated with the production designer to create a mix of eras to avoid appearing as a period piece
but also not looking so contemporary. Cell phones were used by characters in The Mist, but the military police
in the film did not dress in modern attire. While an MP also drove an old Jeep
instead of a Humvee, other cars seen in the film are modern models. The city police cars in the beginning of the movie are a 1987 Chevrolet Caprice
and a 1988 Ford LTD Crown Victoria
, cars that were standard police vehicles in the late 1980s but have not been used in force since the late 1990s.
Over a hundred extra
s from Shreveport, Louisiana were included in The Mist. Unlike conventional application of extras in the background of a film, sixty of the hundred extras were interwoven with the film's ensemble cast. Additional elements giving the film a local flavor include the prominence of local Louisiana brands such as Zapp's potato chips. Exterior shots of the house at the beginning were in Shreveport. Exterior shots of the supermarket were in Vivian, Louisiana
.
Also, if looked closely at, the shields on the side of the passing firetrucks early in the movie identify them as part of the Caddo Parish fire department. This is possibly a mistake as the film is allegedly set in Maine
.
, a spiritual piece characterized by wailing and chanting. As a fan of Dead Can Dance, Darabont thought that the song played "as a requiem mass for the human race." The original score was composed by Academy Award-nominated composer Mark Isham
.
Frank Darabont hired artists Jordu Schell
and Bernie Wrightson
to assist in designing the creatures for the film. Greg Nicotero worked on the film's creature design and make-up effects, while Everett Burrell served as the visual effects supervisor. Nicotero initially sketched out ideas for creature design when Darabont originally expressed interest in filming The Mist in the 1980s. When the project was greenlit, Nicotero, Burrell, and Darabont collaborated about the creature design at roundtable meetings at CaféFX. The studio for visual effects had been recommended to Darabont by Guillermo del Toro
after Darabont asked the director who created the visual effects for Pan's Labyrinth
. Due to the creatures being described in only a few sentences in the novella, Darabont sought to conceive of new designs. The challenge was to try and create the designs in such a way that they felt unique. Nicotero, who was versed in film history and genre history, reviewed past creature designs to avoid having similar designs. When the designs were completed, Nicotero and Burrell educated the cast on the appearance of the creatures by showing puppets and the function of their eyes and mouths. The presentation of the puppets served as reference points for the cast, who had to respond to motion capture dots
during filming.
received the Kodak Award for Excellence in Filmmaking for his previous works The Shawshank Redemption
and The Green Mile
.
, The Mist received a 73% approval rating, based on 139 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. It received a 59% approval rating from the 29 "Cream of the Crop" reviews. On the website Metacritic
, the film has received a metascore of 58 out of 100 based on 29 reviews.
James Berardinelli
wrote of the film, "The Mist is what a horror film should be - dark, tense, and punctuated by just enough gore to keep the viewer's flinch reflex intact. ... Finally, after a long list of failures, someone has done justice in bringing one of King's horror stories to the screen. Though definitely not the feel-good movie of the season, this is a must-see for anyone who loves the genre and doesn't demand "torture porn" from horror." Roger Ebert
was less positive, however, writing: "If you have seen ads or trailers suggesting that horrible things pounce on people, and they make you think you want to see this movie, you will be correct. It is a competently made Horrible Things Pouncing on People Movie. If you think Frank Darabont has equaled the Shawshank
and Green Mile
track record, you will be sadly mistaken."
Bloody Disgusting
ranked the film #4 on their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "The scary stuff works extremely well, but what really drives this one home is Darabont’s focus on the divide that forms between two factions of the townspeople – the paranoid, Bible-thumping types and the more rational-minded, decidedly left-wing members of the populace. This allegorical microcosm of Bush Jr.-era America is spot on, and elevates an already-excellent film to even greater heights."
and Canada
on November 21, 2007. Over the opening weekend in the United States and Canada, The Mist grossed $8,931,973. As of August 9, 2009, the film has grossed $25,593,755 in the United States and Canada and $27,560,960 in other territories for a worldwide total of $57,289,103.
The two-disc edition includes an exclusive black-and-white presentation of the film (as well as the color version), and five featurettes ("When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist", "Taming the Beast: Shooting Scene 35", "Monsters Among Us: A Look at the Creature FX", "The Horror of It All: The Visual FX of The Mist", and "Drew Struzan
: Appreciation of an Artist").
A well received (7.8 of a possible 10 rating from the FanEdit.org site) Fan edit of the film exists, which adheres a bit more closely to the novella. The cut includes a different ending to the film, based on the book finale, and several deleted scenes. It can be obtained by individuals who have purchased the DVD of the film. More info at http://www.karcreat.com/MistNovellaCut
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
of the same name
The Mist
The Mist is a horror novella by the American author Stephen King, in which the small town of Bridgton, Maine is suddenly enveloped in an unnatural mist that conceals otherworldly monsters. It was first published as the first and longest story of the 1980 horror anthology Dark Forces. A slightly...
by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
. The film is written and directed by Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont is a Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. He has directed the films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all based on stories by Stephen King...
, who had previously adapted Stephen King's works The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
and The Green Mile
The Green Mile (film)
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name...
. Darabont had been interested in adapting The Mist for the big screen since the 1980s. The film features an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
including Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
, Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden is an American film and theatre actress. Harden's breakthrough role was in Miller's Crossing and then The First Wives Club which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber and Meet Joe Black...
, Laurie Holden
Laurie Holden
Heather Laurie Holden is an American-Canadian actress and human rights activist. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files, Adele Stanton on The Majestic, Cybil Bennett in Silent Hill, Amanda Dumfries in The Mist, Olivia Murray in The Shield, and Andrea in The...
, Samuel Witwer
Samuel Witwer
Samuel Stewart "Sam" Witwer is an American actor and musician. He has appeared in individual episodes of numerous television shows as well as minor recurring characters in shows such as Battlestar Galactica, Davis Bloome aka Doomsday in Smallville, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Dexter...
, Toby Jones
Toby Jones
Toby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
, Nathan Gamble
Nathan Gamble
Nathan Gamble is an American child actor who made his feature film debut in Babel , for which he was nominated for a 2007 Young Artist Award....
, Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...
, and Frances Sternhagen
Frances Sternhagen
Frances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.-Personal life:...
.
Darabont began filming The Mist in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
in February 2007. The director revised the ending of the film to be darker than the novella's ending, a change to which Stephen King was amenable. Unique creature designs were also sought to differ from creatures in past films. The Mist was commercially released in the United States and Canada on November 21, 2007. The Mist performed well at the box office and received generally positive reviews.
Although a monster movie
Monster movie
Monster movie is a name commonly given to movies, which centre on the struggle between human beings and one or more monsters...
, the central theme is what ordinary people will be driven to do under extraordinary circumstances. The plot revolves around members of the small town of Bridgton, Maine, who after a severe thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
that causes the power to go out the night before meet in a supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
to pick up supplies. While they struggle to survive an unnatural mist which envelops the town and conceals vicious, otherworldly monsters, extreme tensions rise among the survivors.
Plot
The morning after a violent thunderstormThunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
in which a window to their house was broken, David Drayton (Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
) and his wife Stephanie (Kelly Collins Lintz) witness an unusual mist outside their lakeside home. Concerned with cleaning up in the aftermath of the storm, David and his neighbor, Brent Norton (Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...
), along with David's eight-year-old son, Billy (Nathan Gamble
Nathan Gamble
Nathan Gamble is an American child actor who made his feature film debut in Babel , for which he was nominated for a 2007 Young Artist Award....
), go to the local grocery store to buy supplies to fix the storm damage. Like the rest of the community, the store lost its power. Outside, an increasing amount of police activity in the streets draws the attention of the patrons, including the town fire whistle going off. Dan Miller (Jeffrey DeMunn
Jeffrey DeMunn
Jeffrey DeMunn is an American theatre, film and television actor.-Life and career:DeMunn was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Violet and James DeMunn. Stepson of noted actress Betty Lutes DeMunn...
) runs into the store with a bloody nose warning of something dangerous in the oncoming mist. After seeing the mist cover the parking lot and hearing the scream of a man who ventures outside, the store patrons decide to seal themselves inside. The building is soon shaken by violent tremors, visibility reduces to nothing, and the customers grow more and more nervous about the fate of the screaming man; a siege mentality
Siege mentality
Siege mentality is a shared feeling of victimization and defensiveness. It is a state of mind whereby one believes that one is being constantly attacked, oppressed, or isolated and makes one frightened of surrounding people...
takes hold of them.
Unstable religious fanatic Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden is an American film and theatre actress. Harden's breakthrough role was in Miller's Crossing and then The First Wives Club which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber and Meet Joe Black...
) suspects this is the beginning of Armageddon
Armageddon
Armageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...
. A woman, visibly shaken, exclaims that she has two young children at home and must get back to them. Despite the warnings from Dan Miller not to leave, she implores others for help. No one can look at her and she leaves alone, disappearing into the mist, presumably towards her car. While searching the storeroom, David hears something pushing against the loading dock door. Mechanics Myron (David Jensen) and Jim (William Sadler
William Sadler (actor)
William Thomas Sadler is an American actor who works in film and television. His television and motion picture roles have included Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, convict Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption,...
), bag-boy Norm (Chris Owen
Chris Owen (actor)
Chris Owen is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the American Pie movies as Chuck Sherman . He reprised this role in American Pie 2, American Pie: Band Camp and American Reunion...
), and assistant manager Ollie Weeks (Toby Jones
Toby Jones
Toby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
) come to investigate the noise. Norm attempts to go under the door to repair the outside generator, against Drayton's warnings. Suddenly long tentacles covered with teeth-filled mouths grip Norm. David and Ollie attempt to free Norm, but fail as he is dragged away screaming and eaten alive by the tentacles. The four of them report to the rest of the refugees about the monster, but some are skeptical. Once confirmed that the danger is only outside, everyone works to block the front of the store with duct tape, dog food bags and an ice machine. David and Ollie fail to convince Norton and other skeptical patrons going outside is too dangerous. One man agrees to retrieve a shotgun from Cornell's (Buck Taylor
Buck Taylor
Walter Clarence "Buck" Taylor, III is an American actor and water color artist best known for his role as gunsmith-turned-deputy Newly O'Brien in 113 episodes during the last eight seasons of CBS's Gunsmoke television series . In recent years, he has painted the portrait of his friend and Gunsmoke...
) car. For security, he ties a clothesline around his waist so the others could pull him back in case of danger. They are even more terrified when they can pull back only his severed lower body. As the day goes on there is no sign of Norton or his group.
New creatures appear in the mist that night; enormous flying insects are attracted by the store's lights and pterodactyl-like animals pluck them off of the full-length windows, eventually breaking one and allowing the insects in. As a result Sally is stung by an insect, causing her throat to swell until she suffocates, and Tom Smalley is killed by the pterodactyl creature when it rips the flesh off of his neck. In the ensuing attack, Joe Eagleton is badly burned in an attempt to set the insects on fire. During the attack an insect lands on Mrs. Carmody, but flies away instead of giving her a fatal sting. Viewing this as validation of her beliefs, Carmody quickly gains followers among the distraught people, believing that the world is ending and a human sacrifice
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
is needed to save them from the wrath of God. Amanda Dumfries (Laurie Holden
Laurie Holden
Heather Laurie Holden is an American-Canadian actress and human rights activist. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files, Adele Stanton on The Majestic, Cybil Bennett in Silent Hill, Amanda Dumfries in The Mist, Olivia Murray in The Shield, and Andrea in The...
) realizes she needs to watch over Billy in case David is not there for him. David and a group of volunteers try to retrieve medical supplies for the severely burned Joe Eagleton from the pharmacy next door, but are attacked by spider-like creatures that spray acidic webbing that melts through clothing and flesh. The webbing kills Mike Hatlen when a spider spits into his face, burning the flesh away, and as he collapses on the floor, a spider rips his neck open, ready to lay more eggs. Another web strikes Joe's brother, Bobby in the leg eventually letting him bleed to death. They discover an army MP encased in webbing, along with other patrons; he tries to warn them but his body suddenly bursts open and baby spider creatures flow out of his gutted body and begin feeding on the dead volunteers as David and the rest flee in horror. Because of the failed expedition, Carmody's following grows stronger, with a visibly shaken Jim becoming one of her most vocal advocates.
When the group discover that two of the soldiers from the Arrowhead Project hung themselves, the remaining soldier, Private Jessup (Samuel Witwer
Samuel Witwer
Samuel Stewart "Sam" Witwer is an American actor and musician. He has appeared in individual episodes of numerous television shows as well as minor recurring characters in shows such as Battlestar Galactica, Davis Bloome aka Doomsday in Smallville, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Dexter...
), reveals that the project - rumored to be an attempt to look into other dimensions
Multiverse
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise all of reality.Multiverse may also refer to:-In fiction:* Multiverse , the fictional multiverse used by DC Comics...
- was the likely origin of the mist, and that the monsters were extra-dimensional beings that used the mist to begin ravaging the town, and possibly, the entire world. At Carmody's command, Jessup becomes a human sacrifice and is stabbed three times before he is thrown outside. Jessup pleads to be let in, but his attempts fail when he is destroyed by an enormous, mantis
Mantis
Mantis is the common name of any insect in the order Mantodea, also commonly known as praying mantises. The word itself means "prophet" in Latin and Greek...
-like creature, much to everybody's shock.
The next morning, while they are preparing to leave the store, David and his group are intercepted by Mrs. Carmody, who first demands that Billy be made a sacrifice, but then she decides that David's whole group should be sacrificed as well. Ollie prevents the massacre by shooting Mrs. Carmody, stopping her followers in their tracks. Mrs. Carmody's death causes her ardent followers to suddenly realize what they were doing and they sheepishly allow David's group to leave. Ollie makes it to the car safely, but is then picked up and bisected by the mantis-like creature. After he dies, his gun drops onto the hood of David's jeep. Myron trips on the way out, slowing him, Cornell, and Bud Brown behind. Shortly thereafter, Myron is then killed when the spider-like creature leaps onto his face and rips his flesh away, while Bud Brown and Cornell run away frightened. Cornell is eventually chased and killed by the spiders, and Bud Brown gets scared and runs back to the store, where he is welcomed. Amanda, David, Billy, Dan, and Irene (Frances Sternhagen
Frances Sternhagen
Frances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.-Personal life:...
) make it safely to the car, but see no sign of the others. Before they leave, David grabs Ollie's dropped gun, almost getting killed by a spider in the process. They drive off, while Mrs. Carmody's stunned ex-followers watch in shock.
Driving through the mist, David returns home to find it destroyed and his wife Stephanie dead, having fallen victim to the spider-like creatures. Heartbroken, he drives the group south, witnessing the destruction left in the wake of the mist. As David continues to drive on, the group encounters a giant tentacled beast towering hundreds of feet tall. Eventually, they run out of gas and pull over to the side of the road, disheartened that they hadn't seen any other survivors. While Billy is sleeping, the four adults discuss their fate, deciding that there is no point in going any further. With four bullets left in the gun and five people in the car, David shoots Amanda, Dan, Irene, and his son, Billy, to spare them violent death by the creatures. Distraught and determined to die, David exits the vehicle, ready to be attacked by whatever is in the mist. A loud approaching noise turns out to be a self-propelled artillery
Self-propelled artillery
Self-propelled artillery vehicles are combat vehicles armed with artillery. Within the term are covered self-propelled guns and rocket artillery...
vehicle, followed by a squad of soldiers equipped with NBC suit
NBC suit
An NBC suit is a type of military personal protective equipment designed to provide protection against direct contact with and contamination by radioactive, biological or chemical substances, and provides protection from contamination with radioactive materials and some types of radiation,...
s and flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
s. As the mist clears, several trucks, filled with soldiers and survivors, pass David. Among the survivors is the woman from the supermarket that no one would help, and her two young children. Realizing that they were that close to rescue and that he killed his own son, a distraught David falls to his knees, screaming, while two soldiers look on in confusion.
Cast
- Thomas JaneThomas JaneThomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
as David Drayton: A commercial painter and movie-poster artist who is trapped in the market with his young son Billy. He is the only survivor of the market. - Laurie HoldenLaurie HoldenHeather Laurie Holden is an American-Canadian actress and human rights activist. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files, Adele Stanton on The Majestic, Cybil Bennett in Silent Hill, Amanda Dumfries in The Mist, Olivia Murray in The Shield, and Andrea in The...
as Amanda Dumfries: A young, married teacher whose husband is away. She is shot by David to spare her the violent death of the creatures. - Nathan GambleNathan GambleNathan Gamble is an American child actor who made his feature film debut in Babel , for which he was nominated for a 2007 Young Artist Award....
as Billy Drayton: David Drayton's eight-year-old son. David shoots him to spare him the violent death of the creatures, but after realizing David never needed to shoot him, he cries out in anger. - Toby JonesToby JonesToby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
as Ollie Weeks: Assistant manager of the supermarket. He is killed by the mantis-like creature during the escape from the market. - Marcia Gay HardenMarcia Gay HardenMarcia Gay Harden is an American film and theatre actress. Harden's breakthrough role was in Miller's Crossing and then The First Wives Club which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber and Meet Joe Black...
as Mrs. Carmody: A fanatically religious local woman. She was shot two times by Ollie. - Frances SternhagenFrances SternhagenFrances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.-Personal life:...
as Irene Reppler: A third-grade elementary school teacher. Despite being elderly, she is very tough, competent and is always calm and collected. She is shot by David to spare her the violent death of the creatures. - Andre BraugherAndre BraugherAndre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...
as Brent Norton: David's neighbor and a successful New York attorney who filed a lawsuit against David in the past year and lost. His fate will remain unknown, as he never returned after going into the mist. - William SadlerWilliam Sadler (actor)William Thomas Sadler is an American actor who works in film and television. His television and motion picture roles have included Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, convict Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption,...
as Jim Grondin: A local mechanic. - Alexa DavalosAlexa DavalosAlexa Davalos is an American actress. She has appeared in several Hollywood films, including Feast of Love, The Chronicles of Riddick, The Mist, Defiance, and Clash of the Titans.-Early life:...
as Sally: A cashier at the market who is Billy's babysitter. She is killed by enormous flying insects when she is stung, causing her throat to swell and kill her. - Jeffrey DeMunnJeffrey DeMunnJeffrey DeMunn is an American theatre, film and television actor.-Life and career:DeMunn was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Violet and James DeMunn. Stepson of noted actress Betty Lutes DeMunn...
as Dan Miller: A normal civilian who is the first to see the signs of danger from the mist. He is shot by David to spare him the violent death of the creatures. - Melissa McBrideMelissa McBrideMelissa McBride is an American actress best known for her roles as Carol Peletier in the AMC-TV series The Walking Dead and as the "Woman With Kids at Home" in Frank Darabont's 2007 adaptation of Stephen King's "The Mist." She is also a casting director in Atlanta, Georgia.-Filmography:* Matlock...
as Woman With Kids at Home. She is picked up by the Army along with her two kids. - Buck TaylorBuck TaylorWalter Clarence "Buck" Taylor, III is an American actor and water color artist best known for his role as gunsmith-turned-deputy Newly O'Brien in 113 episodes during the last eight seasons of CBS's Gunsmoke television series . In recent years, he has painted the portrait of his friend and Gunsmoke...
as Ambrose Cornell: An elderly man who sides with David's group. He is killed by the spider-like creatures during the escape from the market. - Samuel WitwerSamuel WitwerSamuel Stewart "Sam" Witwer is an American actor and musician. He has appeared in individual episodes of numerous television shows as well as minor recurring characters in shows such as Battlestar Galactica, Davis Bloome aka Doomsday in Smallville, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Dexter...
as Private Wayne Jessup: A local soldier trapped in the market. He is killed by the mantis-like creature after being thrown outside by Carmody's followers. - Chris OwenChris Owen (actor)Chris Owen is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the American Pie movies as Chuck Sherman . He reprised this role in American Pie 2, American Pie: Band Camp and American Reunion...
as Norm: A bag-boy. He is eaten alive by fang covered tentacles. - Robert Treveiler as Bud Brown: The supermarket manager. He is nearly killed during the escape from the market, but runs back to shelter in fear.
- David JensenDavid JensenDavid "Kid" Jensen , is a Danish Canadian-born, British radio DJ.-Early career:Born in a Danish family residing Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began his career in his home country at the age of sixteen playing jazz and classical music. He then joined Radio Luxembourg at the age of eighteen in...
as Myron LaFleur: A local mechanic. He is killed by the spider-like creatures during the escape from the market. - Ron Clinton SmithRon Clinton Smith-Filmography:*Life as We Know It *Lottery Ticket * The Joneses *Hallmark Hall of Fame *The Family That Preys * The Mist *We Are Marshall *Broken Bridges *One Tree Hill*Warm Springs...
as Mr. Mackey: The store butcher. - Juan Gabriel ParejaJuan Gabriel ParejaJuan Gabriel Pareja is an American actor. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, to parents who immigrated from Colombia, Pareja is a graduate of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University....
as Morales - Brian Libby as Biker: A biker who is torn in half by the mantis-like creature while venturing out into the mist for help.
Development
Director Frank DarabontFrank Darabont
Frank Darabont is a Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. He has directed the films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all based on stories by Stephen King...
first read Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's 1980 novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
The Mist
The Mist
The Mist is a horror novella by the American author Stephen King, in which the small town of Bridgton, Maine is suddenly enveloped in an unnatural mist that conceals otherworldly monsters. It was first published as the first and longest story of the 1980 horror anthology Dark Forces. A slightly...
in the Dark Forces
Dark Forces (book)
Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror is an anthology of 23 original horror stories, first published by The Viking Press in 1980 and as a paperback by Bantam Books in 1981. It was edited by New York City literary agent Kirby McCauley...
anthology, and originally expressed interest in directing a film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
for his directing debut. He instead filmed The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
, also based on another King novella. In October 1994, after completing The Shawshank Redemption, Darabont reiterated his interest in filming The Mist. Darabont did not immediately follow through, instead directing the 1999 film adaptation
The Green Mile (film)
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name...
of Stephen King's The Green Mile. Darabont eventually set up a first look deal
First look deal
A first look deal is an arrangement, usually in the film industry, where either a company or in some cases an individual enters into a commercial agreement with a studio under which they must allow the studio the right of first refusal in relation to developing and/or producing a project the...
for The Mist with Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, having been entrusted feature film rights by Stephen King. By December 2004, Darabont said that he had begun writing an adapted screenplay for The Mist, and by October 2006, the project moved from Paramount to Dimension Films
Dimension Films
Dimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. It was formerly used as Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax Films, to produce and release genre films...
, with Darabont attached to direct and actor Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
in negotiations to join the cast.
Writing
| "The story is less about the monsters outside than about the monsters inside, the people you're stuck with, your friends and neighbors breaking under the strain." |
| — Darabont on The Mist |
Director Frank Darabont chose to film The Mist after filming the "straighter dramas" The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile because he "wanted to make a very direct, muscular kind of film." Darabont conceived of a new ending in translating the novella for the big screen. Author Stephen King praised Darabont's new ending, describing it as one that would be unsettling for studios. King said, "The ending is such a jolt—wham! It's frightening. But people who go to see a horror movie don't necessarily want to be sent out with a Pollyanna
Pollyanna
Pollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children's literature, with the title character's name becoming a popular term for someone with the same optimistic outlook. The book was such a success, that Porter soon produced a sequel, Pollyanna...
ending."
Darabont described The Mist as quaint in its elements of monsters and fear of the unknown compared to the contemporary popularity of films with torture porn. The director saw The Mist as a throwback to Paddy Chayefsky
Paddy Chayefsky
Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky , was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay....
and William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, explaining, "It's people at each other." He highlighted the element of fear in the film in how it compelled people to behave differently. Darabont said, "How primitive do people get? It's Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding about a group of British boys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves, with disastrous results...
that happens to have some cool monsters in it." He also drew parallels to The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Originally aired when memories of the Second Red Scare were still fresh in the minds of viewers, the episode is often presented commercial-free as part of the Cable in the Classroom...
" and the 1944 film Lifeboat
Lifeboat (film)
Lifeboat is an American war film directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a story written by John Steinbeck. The film stars Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn and Canada Lee, and is set entirely on a lifeboat.The film is...
.
In the novella, the character David Drayton - who is married - has a sexual encounter with Amanda Dumfries, who is also married. Darabont did not want to attempt conveying on screen the protagonist being involved in an extramarital affair. The characters in the film, portrayed by Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
and Laurie Holden
Laurie Holden
Heather Laurie Holden is an American-Canadian actress and human rights activist. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files, Adele Stanton on The Majestic, Cybil Bennett in Silent Hill, Amanda Dumfries in The Mist, Olivia Murray in The Shield, and Andrea in The...
respectively, instead share a more emotional relationship. Jane explained, "We kind of form a little family, sort of surrogate family where my son and I’m a father and she becomes the mother to the son. We become a little unit as we’re trying to get through this nightmare together." Holden compared the nightmare to what refugees experienced at the Louisiana Superdome
Louisiana Superdome
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome, previously known as the Louisiana Superdome and colloquially known as the Superdome, is a sports and exhibition arena located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA...
during Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
.
While the origin of the mist is never explained in great details in the movie, Frank Darabont did write an opening scene in a draft dated 5 August 2005, in which the thunderstorm causes a malfunction at the Arrowhead Project's lab that allows the portal to another dimension to stay open too long. The scene was never filmed.
Filming
Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...
and Laurie Holden
Laurie Holden
Heather Laurie Holden is an American-Canadian actress and human rights activist. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Marita Covarrubias in The X-Files, Adele Stanton on The Majestic, Cybil Bennett in Silent Hill, Amanda Dumfries in The Mist, Olivia Murray in The Shield, and Andrea in The...
joined Jane for the cast of The Mist. Production began the following February at StageWorks of Louisiana, a sound stage and movie production facility in Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
. Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden is an American film and theatre actress. Harden's breakthrough role was in Miller's Crossing and then The First Wives Club which was followed by several roles which gained her wider fame including the hit comedy Flubber and Meet Joe Black...
and Toby Jones
Toby Jones
Toby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor.-Early life:Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones...
joined the cast later in the month.
William Sadler
William Sadler (actor)
William Thomas Sadler is an American actor who works in film and television. His television and motion picture roles have included Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, convict Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption,...
, Jeffrey DeMunn
Jeffrey DeMunn
Jeffrey DeMunn is an American theatre, film and television actor.-Life and career:DeMunn was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Violet and James DeMunn. Stepson of noted actress Betty Lutes DeMunn...
, and Brian Libby, each of whom appeared in Darabont's previous Stephen King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
and The Green Mile
The Green Mile (film)
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name...
, were cast in supporting roles. Sadler had previously played Thomas Jane's role, David Drayton, in a 1986 audio book
Audio book
An audiobook or audio book is a recording of a text being read. It is not necessarily an exact audio version of a book or magazine.Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the...
version of The Mist. Darabont wanted to cast King in the supporting role that eventually went to Brian Libby, an offer King turned down.
Darabont sought to pursue "a more fluid, ragged documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
kind of direction" with The Mist, so he contacted the camera crew from the TV series The Shield
The Shield
The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...
, after having directed one episode, to use their style in the film. Darabont attempted to film The Mist digitally
Digital cinematography
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, rather than on film. Digital capture may occur on video tape, hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly common...
but found that it "wound up looking too beautiful". The director chose to film with 400 ASA from Fujifilm
Fujifilm
is a multinational photography and imaging company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.Fujifilm's principal activities are the development, production, sale and servicing of color photographic film, digital cameras, photofinishing equipment, color paper, photofinishing chemicals, medical imaging...
, which gave footage a grainy effect
Film grain
Film grain or granularity is the random optical texture of processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons. While film grain is a function of such particles it is not the same...
.
In the opening shot, David is drawing in his room. The drawing is based on Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's Dark Tower
The Dark Tower (series)
The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
series, and the drawing was actually painted by famous movie poster designer Drew Struzan
Drew Struzan
Drew Struzan is an American artist known for his more than 150 movie posters, which include all the films in the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Star Wars film series. He has also painted album covers, collectibles, and book covers.- Early life and education :Drew Struzan was born in Oregon...
. Darabont also put in re-productions of his posters and illustrations for John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
's The Thing, Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish Spanish-language dark fantasy film, written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by the Mexican film company Esperanto Films...
, The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
, and The Green Mile
The Green Mile (film)
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name...
, paying a tribute to him.
Darabont collaborated with the production designer to create a mix of eras to avoid appearing as a period piece
Period piece
-Setting:In the performing arts, a period piece is a work set in a particular era. This informal term covers all countries, all periods and all genres...
but also not looking so contemporary. Cell phones were used by characters in The Mist, but the military police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
in the film did not dress in modern attire. While an MP also drove an old Jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
instead of a Humvee, other cars seen in the film are modern models. The city police cars in the beginning of the movie are a 1987 Chevrolet Caprice
Chevrolet Caprice
The Chevrolet Caprice is a full-sized automobile produced by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors in North America for the 1965 through 1996 model years. Full-size Chevrolet sales peaked in 1965 with over a million sold. It was the most popular American car in the sixties and early seventies....
and a 1988 Ford LTD Crown Victoria
Ford LTD Crown Victoria
The Ford LTD Crown Victoria is a full-size rear-wheel drive sedan that was produced by the Ford Motor Company from 1983 to 1991. As part of a redesign for the 1992 model year, it was renamed the Ford Crown Victoria...
, cars that were standard police vehicles in the late 1980s but have not been used in force since the late 1990s.
Over a hundred extra
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
s from Shreveport, Louisiana were included in The Mist. Unlike conventional application of extras in the background of a film, sixty of the hundred extras were interwoven with the film's ensemble cast. Additional elements giving the film a local flavor include the prominence of local Louisiana brands such as Zapp's potato chips. Exterior shots of the house at the beginning were in Shreveport. Exterior shots of the supermarket were in Vivian, Louisiana
Vivian, Louisiana
Vivian, is a town in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, United States and is home to the Red Bud Festival. The population was 4,031 at the 2000 census...
.
Also, if looked closely at, the shields on the side of the passing firetrucks early in the movie identify them as part of the Caddo Parish fire department. This is possibly a mistake as the film is allegedly set in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
.
Music
Darabont chose to use music to minimal effect in The Mist in order to capture the "heavier feel" of the darker ending that he had written to replace the one from the novella. The director explained, "Sometimes movie music feels false. I’ve always felt that silent can be scarier than loud, a whisper more frightening than a bang, and we wanted to create a balance. We kept music to a minimum to keep that vérité, documentary feel." Darabont chose to overlay the song "The Host of Seraphim" by the band Dead Can DanceDead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart...
, a spiritual piece characterized by wailing and chanting. As a fan of Dead Can Dance, Darabont thought that the song played "as a requiem mass for the human race." The original score was composed by Academy Award-nominated composer Mark Isham
Mark Isham
Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
.
Effects
Jordu Schell
Jordu Schell is a renowned American sculptor and concept artist who has been working in the film and television industries for over twenty years.-Career:Jordu Schell began his career as a sculptor and Halloween mask maker...
and Bernie Wrightson
Bernie Wrightson
Bernie "Berni" Wrightson is an American artist known for his horror illustrations and comic books.-Biography:...
to assist in designing the creatures for the film. Greg Nicotero worked on the film's creature design and make-up effects, while Everett Burrell served as the visual effects supervisor. Nicotero initially sketched out ideas for creature design when Darabont originally expressed interest in filming The Mist in the 1980s. When the project was greenlit, Nicotero, Burrell, and Darabont collaborated about the creature design at roundtable meetings at CaféFX. The studio for visual effects had been recommended to Darabont by Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...
after Darabont asked the director who created the visual effects for Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish Spanish-language dark fantasy film, written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by the Mexican film company Esperanto Films...
. Due to the creatures being described in only a few sentences in the novella, Darabont sought to conceive of new designs. The challenge was to try and create the designs in such a way that they felt unique. Nicotero, who was versed in film history and genre history, reviewed past creature designs to avoid having similar designs. When the designs were completed, Nicotero and Burrell educated the cast on the appearance of the creatures by showing puppets and the function of their eyes and mouths. The presentation of the puppets served as reference points for the cast, who had to respond to motion capture dots
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
during filming.
Release
The Mist was screened at the film festival ShowEast on October 18, 2007, at which director Frank DarabontFrank Darabont
Frank Darabont is a Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. He has directed the films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all based on stories by Stephen King...
received the Kodak Award for Excellence in Filmmaking for his previous works The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
and The Green Mile
The Green Mile (film)
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name...
.
Critical reception
On the film review aggregate website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, The Mist received a 73% approval rating, based on 139 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. It received a 59% approval rating from the 29 "Cream of the Crop" reviews. On the website Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film has received a metascore of 58 out of 100 based on 29 reviews.
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
wrote of the film, "The Mist is what a horror film should be - dark, tense, and punctuated by just enough gore to keep the viewer's flinch reflex intact. ... Finally, after a long list of failures, someone has done justice in bringing one of King's horror stories to the screen. Though definitely not the feel-good movie of the season, this is a must-see for anyone who loves the genre and doesn't demand "torture porn" from horror." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
was less positive, however, writing: "If you have seen ads or trailers suggesting that horrible things pounce on people, and they make you think you want to see this movie, you will be correct. It is a competently made Horrible Things Pouncing on People Movie. If you think Frank Darabont has equaled the Shawshank
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
and Green Mile
The Green Mile (film)
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name...
track record, you will be sadly mistaken."
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...
ranked the film #4 on their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "The scary stuff works extremely well, but what really drives this one home is Darabont’s focus on the divide that forms between two factions of the townspeople – the paranoid, Bible-thumping types and the more rational-minded, decidedly left-wing members of the populace. This allegorical microcosm of Bush Jr.-era America is spot on, and elevates an already-excellent film to even greater heights."
Box office
The film was commercially released in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on November 21, 2007. Over the opening weekend in the United States and Canada, The Mist grossed $8,931,973. As of August 9, 2009, the film has grossed $25,593,755 in the United States and Canada and $27,560,960 in other territories for a worldwide total of $57,289,103.
Home release
The Mist was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 25, 2008. The single-disc includes an audio commentary by writer/director Frank Darabont, eight deleted scenes with optional commentary, and "A Conversation With Stephen King and Frank Darabont" featurette.The two-disc edition includes an exclusive black-and-white presentation of the film (as well as the color version), and five featurettes ("When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist", "Taming the Beast: Shooting Scene 35", "Monsters Among Us: A Look at the Creature FX", "The Horror of It All: The Visual FX of The Mist", and "Drew Struzan
Drew Struzan
Drew Struzan is an American artist known for his more than 150 movie posters, which include all the films in the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and Star Wars film series. He has also painted album covers, collectibles, and book covers.- Early life and education :Drew Struzan was born in Oregon...
: Appreciation of an Artist").
A well received (7.8 of a possible 10 rating from the FanEdit.org site) Fan edit of the film exists, which adheres a bit more closely to the novella. The cut includes a different ending to the film, based on the book finale, and several deleted scenes. It can be obtained by individuals who have purchased the DVD of the film. More info at http://www.karcreat.com/MistNovellaCut