Post by -|E|- on May 22, 2007 16:42:21 GMT -5
May 8, 2007
"Chasing Ghosts" Blog bg Evan Bleiweiss
You hear horror stories about being an assistant in this business. Whether it’s rushing across town to pick up your bosses’ mail or needing to get to a drug store before it closes to fill a prescription, the list goes on and on. Luckily for me my time as an assistant on THE SHIELD has been nothing but positive. For the first two seasons I worked on the show I was the post production assistant but I was lucky enough, in the middle of the sixth season, to make the move to the other side of the building as the writers’ assistant. The first director I would get to sit at a table read with… the great Frank Darabont.
Like most of you I’m sure, I think Shawshank Redemption is one of the best movies to come along in a while and I couldn’t wait to see if Frank was as cool as I’d hoped he’d be. It’s safe to say that he surpassed all of my expectations. I was first introduced to him in Adam Fierro’s office, just a simple, “hello, nice to meet you”. Nothing that would make me think I had left an impression. To my shock and surprise the next day I was walking out of the building when I heard someone call out, “Hey Evan”. What followed was one of my favorite moments to date in this business.
As we walked to the parking lot I mustered up all of the courage I could and asked him a question. “Did you know when you were making Shawshank that it would turn out so great?” Stupid question I know, but what the hell else was I going to say? Frank was very candid when speaking to me about the film. He shared one particular story about his original intentions of casting Tom Hanks. Unfortunately for Frank, Tom Hanks was committed to another film that year… Forrest Gump. After the film’s release Tom and Frank went out to dinner and Tom said that he loved the movie and would do anything that Frank wrote. He kept that in mind and a few months later sat down to start writing the Green Mile. Tom Hanks was true to his promise and starred in that film. We continued to walk and talked about everything from his movies to other writers that he himself enjoys. My last question for him that day was, “Are you a big fan of the show?”
It was weird to see a guy like Frank get so excited to talk about THE SHIELD. He said that he loved it and he only could watch it on DVD because he hated waiting to see what happens. The suspense of watching on television week to week killed him. His love for the show paid off as Frank delivered one of the best director’s cuts in the show’s history.
I remember walking away and realizing that my buddies in Post had been watching us talk the whole time, they were so jealous that I was able to spend some time with Frank and talk to him. Here I was, an assistant, and Frank talked to me the same way he would talk to Shawn Ryan or anyone else.
Thanks for taking the time Frank… you made my day.