|
THE GREEN MILE |
Castle Rock Entertainment presents
a Darkwoods production.
Prod: David Valdes, Frank Darabont; Dir: Frank Darabont; Scr: Frank Darabont, based on the novel by Stephen King; Ph: David Tattersall; Prod des: Terence Marsh; Cost des: Karyn Wagner; Ed: Richard Francis-Bruce; Mus: Thomas Newman.
With: Tom Hanks (Paul Edgecomb), David Morse (Brutus ‘Brutal´ Howell), Bonnie Hunt (Jan Edgecomb), Michael Clarke Duncan (John Coffey), James Cromwell (Warden Hal Moores), Michael Jeter (Eduard Delacroix), Graham Greene (Arlen Bitterbuck), Doug Hutchison (Percy Wetmore), Sam Rockwell (‘Wild Bill´ Wharton), Barry Pepper (Dean Stanton).
International distribution: Universal Pictures/UIP.
|
If Darabont was a sympathetic director, it was Hanks who really looked out for the cast, says David Morse. “He leads with his generosity and the kind of care he takes with everyone, including the crew,” says the actor, who will soon be seen internationally in Antonio Banderas´ Crazy in Alabama. “He´s a very entertaining human being and there´s nobody who he won´t spend time with. There are other actors who could have been in that role and it would have been a very different experience: the ensemble nature of it would have gone right out of the window. I don´t think this film could have worked without Tom in the role.”
Although The Green Mile is set on a death row, Darabont is adamant that he wasn´t making an issue movie like Dead Man Walking. “I´m not taking any position on the death penalty, for or against,” he says. “I decided long ago to let the audience draw its own conclusions on the issue. Hopefully, the film will raise some questions worth considering - and not just about the death penalty but about spiritual issues, too.”
Nevertheless, the execution scenes are horribly realistic. “It was really brutal seeing them, even knowing they were staged,” recalls Barry Pepper, who previously worked with Hanks on Saving Private Ryan. “We went to a penitentiary in Tennessee and we visited the death chamber, which had a chair very like the one in The Green Mile. It was incredibly disturbing.” In fact, the execution scenes were technically innovative enough for Steven Spielberg to come by and watch them.
Pepper was also impressed by the set itself. “We shot for three months at Warner Hollywood on the Green Mile set, which was 15 foot by 50 foot, very claustrophobic and intense,” he says. “Every detail was beautifully done, from the layers of paint over the years on the bars and the dust on the books. We bonded very closely over those three months, so it was easy to find the right emotions.” Not that the cast took things too seriously. “Actors don´t really talk about acting, they make up jokes,” laughs Morse.
Ultimately, the film has so many different themes that it is extremely hard to categorise. “I´ve described this movie as the world´s longest Twilight Zone episode. I love that,” chuckles Darabont. But the supernatural elements, he feels, will raise the most questions for audiences.
“It´s whatever you want to make of it,” he concludes. “I love that the film is going to mean different things to different audiences. I don´t think we get enough movies that allow the audience that luxury. It doesn´t matter what it means to me, it only matters what it means to you.”
|
