name	The Mist
director	Frank Darabont
producer	Frank DarabontMartin ShaferLiz Glotzer
screenplay	Frank Darabont
based on
starring	Thomas JaneMarcia Gay HardenLaurie HoldenAndre BraugherToby Jones
cinematography	Rohn Schmidt
editing	Hunter M. Via
studio	Dimension FilmsDarkwoods Productions
distributor	Metro-Goldwyn-MayerThe Weinstein Company
released
runtime	126 minutes
country
language	English
budget	$18 million
gross	$57,293,715 }}

''The Mist'' (also known as ''Stephen King's 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.

Plot

The morning after a violent thunderstorm 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. With visibility reduced to nothing and nervous about the fate of the screaming man, a siege mentality takes hold of the customers.

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, dragging him away screaming. 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.

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 and Tom Smalley die in the ensuing attack, and Joe Eagleton is badly burned. 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 Joe's brother Bobby and Mike Hatlen. 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. 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 committed suicide, 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 before he is thrown outside, where he is destroyed by an enormous, mantis-like creature.

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 is 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, Myron, and Cornell are killed in the ensuing escape 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. 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 and encountering a giant tentacled beast towering hundreds of feet tall. The beast was accordingly named by Stephen King "the impossibly tall creature". 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 suits and flamethrowers. 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, David falls to his knees, screaming, while two soldiers look on in confusion.

Cast

Thomas Jane as David Drayton: A commercial painter and movie-poster artist who is trapped in the market with his young son Billy.

Laurie Holden as Amanda Dumfries: A young, married teacher whose husband is away.

Nathan Gamble as Billy Drayton: David Drayton's eight-year-old son.

Toby Jones as Ollie Weeks: Assistant manager of the supermarket.

Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody: A fanatically religious local woman.

Frances Sternhagen as Irene Reppler: A third-grade elementary school teacher. Despite being elderly, she is very tough, competent and is always calm and collected.

Andre Braugher as Brent Norton: David's neighbor and a successful New York attorney who filed a lawsuit against David in the past year and lost.

William Sadler as Jim Grondin: A local mechanic.

Alexa Davalos as Sally: A cashier at the market who is Billy's babysitter.

Jeffrey DeMunn as Dan Miller: A normal civilian who is the first to see the signs of danger from the mist.

Melissa McBride as Woman With Kids at Home

Buck Taylor as Ambrose Cornell: An elderly man who sides with David's group.

Samuel Witwer as Private Wayne Jessup: A local soldier trapped in the market.

Chris Owen as Norm: A bag-boy.

Robert Treveiler as Bud Brown: The supermarket manager.

David Jensen as Myron LaFleur: A local mechanic.

Ron Clinton Smith as Mr. Mackey: The store butcher.

Juan Gabriel Pareja as Morales

Brian Libby as Biker: A biker who is torn in half while venturing out into the mist for help.

Production

Development

Director Frank Darabont 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.

Writing

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.

Filming

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'' 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 extras 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.

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 Dance, 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.

Effects

250px|right|thumb|Norm is taken by claw-lined tentacles from the mist. Director Frank Darabont sought unique creature designs in the course of production.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.

Release

''The Mist'' was screened at the film festival ShowEast on October 18, 2007, at which director Frank Darabont received the Kodak Award for Excellence in Filmmaking for his previous works ''The Shawshank Redemption'' and ''The Green Mile''.

Critical reaction

On the film review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, ''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."

Box office

The film was commercially released in the United States 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.

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: Appreciation of an Artist").

References

External links

Cinemetrical data

Category:2007 films Category:2000s horror films Category:American horror films Category:English-language films Category:Films directed by Frank Darabont Category:Films based on Stephen King's works Category:Films set in Maine Category:Monster movies Category:Post-apocalyptic films Category:Dimension Films films Category:The Weinstein Company films Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films

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name	Stephen King
pseudonym	Richard Bachman, John Swithen
birth date	September 21, 1947
birth name	Stephen Edwin King
birth place	Portland, Maine, U.S.
occupation	Novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, columnist, actor, television producer, film director
genre	Horror, fantasy, science fiction, drama, gothic, genre fiction, dark fantasy
net worth	?
notableworks	''Carrie'', ''The Shining'', ''The Stand'', ''It'', and ''Misery''
influences	Burton HatlenBram StokerShirley JacksonH. P. LovecraftRichard MathesonRay BradburyEdgar Allan PoeJohn D. MacDonaldDon Robertson
influenced	Peter David,J. J. Abrams,Damon Lindelof, Jeaniene Frost
website	http://www.stephenking.com
spouse	Tabitha King
children	Naomi KingJoe KingOwen King
Signature	Stephen King Signature.svg }}

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies, which have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books. As of 2011, King has written and published 49 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, five non-fiction books, and nine collections of short stories. Many of his stories are set in his home state of Maine.

King has received Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, British Fantasy Society Awards, his novella ''The Way Station'' was a Nebula Award novelette nominee, and in 2003, the National Book Foundation awarded him the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Early life

King's father, Donald Edwin King, who was born ca. 1913 in Peru, Indiana, was a merchant seaman. King's mother, Nellie Ruth (née Pillsbury; March 13, 1913 – December 28, 1973) was born in Scarborough, Maine. They were married July 23, 1939, in Cumberland County, Maine.

Stephen King was born September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. When King was two years old, his father left the family under the pretense of "going to buy a pack of cigarettes," leaving his mother to raise King and his adopted older brother, David, by herself, sometimes under great financial strain. The family moved to De Pere, Wisconsin, Fort Wayne, Indiana and Stratford, Connecticut. When King was eleven years old, the family returned to Durham, Maine, where Ruth King cared for her parents until their deaths. She then became a caregiver in a local residential facility for the mentally challenged.

As a child, King apparently witnessed one of his friends being struck and killed by a train, though he has no memory of the event. His family told him that after leaving home to play with the boy, King returned, speechless and seemingly in shock. Only later did the family learn of the friend's death. Some commentators have suggested that this event may have psychologically inspired some of King's darker works, but King himself has dismissed the idea.

King's primary inspiration for writing horror fiction was related in detail in his 1981 non-fiction ''Danse Macabre'', in a chapter titled "An Annoying Autobiographical Pause". King makes a comparison of his uncle successfully dowsing for water using the bough of an apple branch with the sudden realization of what he wanted to do for a living. While browsing through an attic with his elder brother, King uncovered a paperback version of an H.P. Lovecraft collection of short stories that had belonged to his father. The cover art—an illustration of a yellow-green Demon hiding within the recesses of a Hellish cavern beneath a tombstone—was, he writes, the moment in his life which "that interior dowsing rod responded to.”

Education and early career

King attended Durham Elementary School and graduated from Lisbon Falls High School, in Lisbon Falls, Maine. He displayed an early interest in horror as an avid reader of EC's horror comics, including ''Tales from the Crypt'' (he later paid tribute to the comics in his screenplay for ''Creepshow''). He began writing for fun while still in school, contributing articles to ''Dave's Rag'', the newspaper that his brother published with a mimeograph machine and later began selling stories to his friends which were based on movies he had seen (though when discovered by his teachers, he was forced to return the profits). The first of his stories to be independently published was "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber", serialized over three published and one unpublished issue of a fanzine, ''Comics Review'', in 1965. That story was published the following year in a revised form as "In a Half-World of Terror" in another fanzine, ''Stories of Suspense'', edited by Marv Wolfman.

From 1966, King studied English at the University of Maine, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. That same year his first daughter, Naomi Rachel, was born. He wrote a column for the student newspaper, ''The Maine Campus'', titled "Steve King's Garbage Truck", took part in a writing workshop organized by Burton Hatlen, and took odd jobs to pay for his studies, including one at an industrial laundry. He sold his first professional short story, "The Glass Floor", to ''Startling Mystery Stories'' in 1967. The Fogler Library at UMaine now holds many of King's papers.

After leaving the university, King earned a certificate to teach high school but, being unable to find a teaching post immediately, initially supplemented his laboring wage by selling short stories to men's magazines such as ''Cavalier''. Many of these early stories have been published in the collection ''Night Shift''. In 1971, King married Tabitha Spruce, a fellow student at the University of Maine whom he had met at the University's Fogler Library after one of Professor Hatlen's workshops. That fall, King was hired as a teacher at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine. He continued to contribute short stories to magazines and worked on ideas for novels. It was during this time that King developed a drinking problem, which stayed with him for more than a decade.

King and his wife, Tabitha, have three children, Naomi, Joe and Owen. Tabitha, Joe and Owen are also published writers.

1970s–80s work

In 1973, King's novel ''Carrie'' was accepted by publishing house Doubleday. King actually threw an early draft of the novel in the trash after becoming discouraged with his progress writing about a teenage girl with psychic powers. His wife retrieved the manuscript and encouraged him to finish it. His advance for ''Carrie'' was $2,500, with paperback rights earning $400,000 at a later date. King and his family relocated to southern Maine because of his mother's failing health. At this time, he began writing a book titled ''Second Coming'', later titled ''Jerusalem's Lot'', before finally changing the title to '''Salem's Lot'' (published 1975). In a 1987 issue of ''The Highway Patrolman'' magazine, he stated, "The story seems sort of down home to me. I have a special cold spot in my heart for it!" Soon after the release of ''Carrie'' in 1974, his mother died of uterine cancer. His Aunt Emrine read the novel to her before she died. King has written of his severe drinking problem at this time, stating that he was drunk delivering the eulogy at his mother's funeral.

After his mother's death, King and his family moved to Boulder, Colorado, where King wrote ''The Shining'' (published 1977). The family returned to western Maine in 1975, where King completed his fourth novel, ''The Stand'' (published 1978). In 1977, the family, with the addition of Owen Phillip (his third and last child), traveled briefly to England, returning to Maine that fall where King began teaching creative writing at the University of Maine. He has kept his primary residence in Maine ever since.

In 1985 King wrote his first work for the comic book medium, writing a few pages of the benefit X-Men comic book ''Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men''. The book, whose profits were donated to assist with famine relief in Africa, was written by a number of different authors in the comic book field, such as Chris Claremont, Stan Lee, and Alan Moore, as well as authors not primarily associated with that industry, such as Harlan Ellison. The following year, King wrote the introduction to ''Batman'' #400, an anniversary issue in which he expressed his preference for that character over Superman.

''The Dark Tower'' books

In the late 1970s, King began what became a series of interconnected stories about a lone gunslinger, Roland, who pursues the "Man in Black" in an alternate-reality universe that is a cross between J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth and the American wild west as depicted by Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone in their spaghetti westerns. The first of these stories, ''The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger'', was first published in five installments by ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' under the editorship of Edward L. Ferman, beginning in 1977 and the last in 1981. The Gunslinger was continued as a large 7-book epic called The Dark Tower, which were written and published infrequently over four decades.

In 1982, the fantasy small-press Donald M. Grant (known for publishing the entire canon of Robert E. Howard) printed these stories for the first time together in hardcover form with color and black-and-white illustrations by fantasy artist Michael Whelan, as ''The Gunslinger''. Each chapter was named for the story previously published in magazine form. King dedicated the hardcover edition to his editor at ''F&SF;'', Ed Ferman, who "took a chance on these stories". The original print-run was only 10,000 copies, which was, by this time, a comparatively low run for a first printing of a King novel in hardcover. His 1980 novel, ''Firestarter'', had an initial print-run in trade hardcover at 100,000 copies, and his 1983 novel, ''Christine'', had a trade hardcover print-run of 250,000 copies, both by the much larger publisher Viking. ''The Gunslinger'''s initial release was not highly publicized, and only specialty science-fiction and related bookstores carried it on their shelves. The book was generally not available in the larger chain stores, except by special order. Rumors spread among avid fans that there was a King book out that few readers knew about, let alone had actually read. When the initial 10,000 copies sold out, Grant printed another 10,000 copies in 1984, but these runs were still far short of the growing demand among fans for this book. ''The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger'' was the beginning of his magnum opus fantasy epic. Both the first and second printings of ''The Gunslinger'' garner premium prices on the collectible book market, notably among avid readers and collectors of Stephen King, horror literature, fantasy literature, American western literature, and fans of the artwork of Michael Whelan.

In 1987, King released the second installment, ''The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three'', in which Roland draws three people from 20th-century United States into his world through magical doors. Grant published ''The Drawing of the Three'' with illustrations by Phil Hale in a slightly larger run of 30,000 copies, which was still well below King's typical initial hardcover print-run of a new book. (''It'', published in 1986, had an initial print-run of 1,000,000 copies, King's largest to date.) King had believed that the Dark Tower books would only be of interest to a select group of his fans, and he had resisted releasing it on a larger scale. Finally, in the late 1980s, bowing to pressure from his publishers and fans who were searching for the books (at this point fewer than 50,000 of his millions of readers would have been able to own any of the Dark Tower books), King agreed to release ''The Gunslinger'' and all subsequent Dark Tower books in trade paperback and mass market formats. The series reached seven books, with the final installment called ''The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower'', in 2004.

In the early 2000s King revised the original book, ''The Gunslinger'', because he felt the voice and imagery of the original stories of the late 1970s did not seem to fit the voice of the final installment of 2004. King felt the style of the work had markedly changed during the intervening 27 years. The revised version was published in 2003 by his former hardcover publisher Viking. Grant published its hardcover limited edition of the revised version of ''The Gunslinger'' along with a prequel story set in the Dark Tower world called "The Little Sisters of Eluria" (from King's short story collection ''Everything's Eventual'') in 2009.

Adaptations

In October 2005, King signed a deal with Marvel Comics to publish a seven-issue, miniseries spin-off of the series called ''The Gunslinger Born''. The series, which focuses on a young Roland Deschain, is plotted by Robin Furth, with dialogue by Peter David, and illustrated by Eisner Award-winning artist Jae Lee. The first issue was published on February 7, 2007, and King, David, Lee and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada appeared at a midnight signing at a Times Square, New York comic book store to promote it. The work had sold over 200,000 copies by March 2007. The success of ''The Gunslinger Born'' led to an ongoing series of miniseries published by Marvel, with Furth and David continuing to collaborate, featuring both adapted material from the ''Dark Tower'' books and new material approved by King; it also led to a second series of King adaptations in the same format, serializing the events of ''The Stand''.

Although ''The Hollywood Reporter'' announced in February 2007 that plans were underway for ''Lost'' co-creator J. J. Abrams to do an adaptation of King's epic ''Dark Tower'' series, Abrams stated in a November 2009 interview with MTV that he would not be adapting the series.

Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer will produce a feature film trilogy and a television series for Universal Pictures and NBC, based on ''The Dark Tower'' series, with Howard slated to direct the first movie, which is scheduled for a May 17, 2013 release. That film will be followed by a TV series that will tie into the second movie.

Richard Bachman

In the late 1970s-early 1980s, King published a handful of short novels—''Rage'' (1977), ''The Long Walk'' (1979), ''Roadwork'' (1981), ''The Running Man'' (1982) and ''Thinner'' (1984)—under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The idea behind this was largely an experiment to measure for himself whether or not he could replicate his own success again, and allay at least part of the notion within his mind that popularity might all be just an accident of fate. An alternate (or additional) explanation was that publishing standards at the time allowed only a single book a year.

Richard Bachman was exposed as being King's pseudonym after a persistent Washington D.C. bookstore clerk, Steve Brown, noticed similarities between the two's works and later located publisher's records at the Library of Congress naming King as the author of one of Bachman's novels. This led to a press release heralding Bachman's "death"—supposedly from "cancer of the pseudonym." King dedicated his 1989 book ''The Dark Half'', about a pseudonym turning on a writer, to "the deceased Richard Bachman", and in 1996, when the Stephen King novel ''Desperation'' was released, the companion novel ''The Regulators'' carried the "Bachman" byline.

In 2006, during a press conference in London, King declared that he had discovered another Bachman novel, titled ''Blaze''. It was published on June 12, 2007. In fact, the manuscript had been held at King's alma mater, the University of Maine in Orono, for many years and had been covered by numerous King experts. King completely rewrote the 1973 manuscript for its publication.

Car accident and thoughts of retirement

On June 19, 1999 at about 4:30 p.m., King was reading a book and walking on the shoulder of Route 5, in Lovell, Maine. Driver Bryan Smith, distracted by an unrestrained dog moving in the back of his minivan, struck King, who landed in a depression in the ground about 14 feet from the pavement of Route 5. According to Oxford County Sheriff deputy Matt Baker, King was struck from behind and some witnesses said the driver was not speeding or reckless.

King was conscious enough to give the deputy phone numbers to contact his family but was in considerable pain. The author was first transported to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton and then flown by helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center, in Lewiston. His injuries—a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures of his right leg, scalp laceration and a broken hip—kept him at CMMC until July 9. His leg bones were so shattered doctors initially considered amputating it, but stabilized the bones in the leg with an external fixator. After five operations in ten days and physical therapy, King resumed work on ''On Writing'' in July, though his hip was still shattered and he could only sit for about forty minutes before the pain became worse. Soon it became nearly unbearable.

King's lawyer and two others purchased Smith's van for $1,500, reportedly to prevent it from appearing on eBay. The van was later crushed at a junkyard, much to King's disappointment, as he dreamed of beating it with a baseball bat once his leg was healed. King later mentioned during an interview with ''Fresh Air's'' Terry Gross that he wanted to completely destroy the vehicle himself with a pickaxe.

Two years later, King suffered severe pneumonia as a direct result of his lung being punctured in the accident. During this time, Tabitha King was inspired to redesign his studio. King visited the space while his books and belongings were packed away. What he saw was an image of what his studio would look like if he died, providing a seed for his novel ''Lisey's Story''.

2000s work

In 2002, King announced he would stop writing, apparently motivated in part by frustration with his injuries, which had made sitting uncomfortable and reduced his stamina. He has since resumed writing, but states on his website that:

"I'm writing but I'm writing at a much slower pace than previously and I think that if I come up with something really, really good, I would be perfectly willing to publish it because that still feels like the final act of the creative process, publishing it so people can read it and you can get feedback and people can talk about it with each other and with you, the writer, but the force of my invention has slowed down a lot over the years and that's as it should be."

In 2000, King published a serialized novel, ''The Plant'', online, bypassing print publication. At first it was presumed by the public that King had abandoned the project because sales were unsuccessful, but he later stated that he had simply run out of stories. The unfinished epistolary novel is still available from King's official site, now free. Also in 2000, he wrote a digital novella, ''Riding the Bullet'', and has said he sees e-books becoming 50% of the market "probably by 2013 and maybe by 2012." But he also warns: "Here's the thing—people tire of the new toys quickly."

In August 2003 King began writing a column on pop culture appearing in ''Entertainment Weekly'', usually every third week. The column is called "The Pop of King", a play on the nickname "The King of Pop" commonly given to Michael Jackson.

In 2006, King published an apocalyptic novel, ''Cell''.

In 2007, Marvel Comics began publishing comic books based on King's ''Dark Tower'' series, followed by adaptations of ''The Stand'' in 2008 and ''The Talisman'' in 2009.

In 2008, King published both a novel, ''Duma Key'', and a collection, ''Just After Sunset''. The latter featured 13 short stories, including a novella, ''N.'', which was later released as a serialized animated series that could be seen for free, or, for a small fee, could be downloaded in a higher quality; it then was adopted into a limited comic book series.

In 2009, King published ''Ur'', a novella written exclusively for the launch of the second-generation Amazon Kindle and available only on Amazon.com, and ''Throttle'', a novella co-written with his son Joe Hill, which later was released as an audiobook ''Road Rage'', which included Richard Matheson's short story "Duel". On November 10 that year, King's novel, ''Under the Dome'', was published. It is a reworking of an unfinished novel he tried writing twice in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and at 1,074 pages, it is the largest novel he has written since 1986's ''It''. It debuted at #1 in The New York Times Bestseller List, and #3 in UK Book Charts.

On February 16, 2010, King announced on his website that his next book will be a collection of four previously unpublished novellas. The book is called ''Full Dark, No Stars''. In April of that year, King published ''Blockade Billy'', an original novella issued first by independent small press Cemetery Dance Publications and later released in mass market paperback by Simon & Schuster. This baseball-related suspense novella is not set to be reprinted in ''Full Dark, No Stars''. The following month, DC Comics premiered ''American Vampire'', a monthly comic book series written by King with short story writer Scott Snyder, and illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque, which represents King's first original comics work.

In March 2011, Stephen King announced two new books: his next novel, ''11/22/63'', will be published November 8, 2011, and the eighth Dark Tower volume, ''The Wind Through the Keyhole'' will be published in 2012.

Collaborations

King has written two novels with acclaimed horror novelist Peter Straub: ''The Talisman'' and a sequel, ''Black House''. King has indicated that he and Straub will likely write the third and concluding book in this series, the tale of Jack Sawyer, but has set no time line for its completion.

King also wrote the nonfiction book, ''Faithful'', with novelist and fellow Red Sox fanatic Stewart O'Nan.

In 1996 King collaborated with Michael Jackson to create ''Ghosts'', a 40-minute musical video in which the singer portrays a recluse living in a mansion confronting an unwelcoming group of townsfolk initially calling for his exodus from their community.

"Throttle", a novella written in collaboration with his son Joe Hill, appears in the anthology ''He Is Legend: Celebrating Richard Matheson'', (Gauntlet Press, 2009).

''The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red'', was a paperback tie-in for the King-penned miniseries ''Rose Red''. The book was published under anonymous authorship, and written by Ridley Pearson. This spin-off is a rare occasion of another author being granted permission to write commercial work using characters and story elements invented by King.

King has written a musical play with John Mellencamp titled ''Ghost Brothers of Darkland County''.

King played guitar for the rock band Rock-Bottom Remainders, several of whose members are authors. Other members include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount, Jr., Matt Groening, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry, and Greg Iles. None of them claim to have any musical talent. King is a fan of the rock band AC/DC, who did the soundtrack for his 1986 film, ''Maximum Overdrive''. He is also a fan of The Ramones, who wrote the title song for ''Pet Sematary'' and appeared in the music video. King referred to the band several times in various novels and stories and The Ramones referenced King on the song "It's Not My Place (In the 9 to 5 World)", which is on 1981's ''Pleasant Dreams''. In addition he wrote the liner notes for their tribute album ''We're a Happy Family.'' In 1988, the band Blue Öyster Cult recorded an updated version of their 1974 song "Astronomy". The single released for radio play featured a narrative intro spoken by King.

On Sunday, October 25, 2009 the DC Comics Vertigo blog news feed released that King will team up with short story writer Scott Snyder and artist Rafael Albuquerque in a new monthly comic book series from Vertigo in March 2010 called ''American Vampire''. King is to write the background history of the very first American vampire, Skinner Sweet, in the five issues of the first arc. Scott Snyder will write the story of Pearl. Both stories are to weave together to form the first story arc.

In 2010, King collaborated with musician Shooter Jennings and his band Hierophant, providing the narration for their most recent album, ''Black Ribbons''.

Works

Analysis

Writing style

King's formula for learning to write well is: "Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can't expect to become a good writer." He sets out each day with a quota of 2000 words and will not stop writing until it is met. He also has a simple definition for talent in writing: "If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented."

Shortly after his accident, King wrote the first draft of the book ''Dreamcatcher'' with a notebook and a Waterman fountain pen, which he called "the world's finest word processor."

When asked why he writes, King responds: "The answer to that is fairly simple—there was nothing else I was made to do. I was made to write stories and I love to write stories. That's why I do it. I really can't imagine doing anything else and I can't imagine not doing what I do." He is also often asked why he writes such terrifying stories and he answers with another question "Why do you assume I have a choice?"

King often uses authors as characters, or includes mention of fictional books in his stories, novellas and novels, such as Paul Sheldon who is the main character in ''Misery'' and Jack Torrance in ''The Shining''. See also List of fictional books in the works of Stephen King for a complete list. In September 2009 it was announced he would serve as a writer for ''Fangoria''.

Influences

King has called Richard Matheson "the author who influenced me most as a writer." Both authors casually integrate characters' thoughts into the third person narration, just one of several parallels between their writing styles. In a current edition of Matheson's ''The Shrinking Man'', King is quoted: "A horror story if there ever was one...a great adventure story—it is certainly one of that select handful that I have given to people, envying them the experience of the first reading."

King refers to H. P. Lovecraft several times in ''Danse Macabre''. "Gramma", a short story made into a film in the 1980s anthology horror show ''The New Twilight Zone'', mentions Lovecraft's notorious fictional creation ''Necronomicon'', also borrowing the names of a number of the fictional monsters mentioned therein. "I Know What You Need" from the 1976 collection ''Night Shift'', and '''Salem's Lot'' also mention the tome. In ''On Writing'', King is critical of Lovecraft's dialogue-writing skills, using passages from ''The Colour Out of Space'' as particularly poor examples. There are also several examples of King referring to Lovecraftian characters in his work, such as Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth.

King acknowledges the influence of Bram Stoker, particularly on his novel '''Salem's Lot'', which he envisioned as a retelling of ''Dracula''. Its related short story "Jerusalem's Lot", is reminiscent of Stoker's ''The Lair of the White Worm''.

King has also referenced author Shirley Jackson. '''Salem's Lot'' opens with a quotation from Jackson's ''The Haunting of Hill House'', and a character in ''Wolves of the Calla'' references the Jackson book ''We Have Always Lived in the Castle''.

King is a fan of John D. MacDonald, and dedicated the novella "Sun Dog" to MacDonald, saying "I miss you, old friend." For his part, MacDonald wrote an admiring preface to ''Night Shift'', and even had his famous character, Travis McGee, reading ''Cujo'' in one of the last McGee novels and ''Pet Sematary'' in the last McGee novel, ''The Lonely Silver Rain.''

In 1987 King's Philtrum Press published Don Robertson's novel, ''The Ideal, Genuine Man''. In his forenote to the novel, King wrote, "Don Robertson was and is one of the three writers who influenced me as a young man who was trying to 'become' a novelist (the other two being Richard Matheson and John D. MacDonald)."

Robert A. Heinlein's book ''The Door into Summer'' is repeatedly mentioned in King's ''Wolves of the Calla''.

In an interview with King, Published in the ''USA Weekend'' in March 2009, the author stated, "People look on writers that they like as an irreplaceable resource. I do. Elmore Leonard, every day I wake up and – not to be morbid or anything, although morbid is my life to a degree – don't see his obituary in the paper, I think to myself, "Great! He's probably working somewhere. He's gonna produce another book, and I'll have another book to read." Because when he's gone, there's nobody else."

King partly dedicated his book ''Cell'' to film director George Romero, and wrote an essay for the Elite DVD version of ''Night of the Living Dead''.

Critical response

Although critical reaction to King's work has been mostly positive, he has occasionally come under fire from academic writers.

Science fiction editors John Clute and Peter Nichols offer a largely favorable appraisal of King, noting his "pungent prose, sharp ear for dialogue, disarmingly laid-back, frank style, along with his passionately fierce denunciation of human stupidity and cruelty (especially to children) [all of which rank] him among the more distinguished 'popular' writers."

In his analysis of post-World War II horror fiction, ''The Modern Weird Tale'' (2001), critic S. T. Joshi devotes a chapter to King's work. Joshi argues that King's best-known works (his supernatural novels), are his worst, describing them as mostly bloated, illogical, maudlin and prone to ''deus ex machina'' endings. Despite these criticisms, Joshi argues that since ''Gerald's Game'' (1993), King has been tempering the worst of his writing faults, producing books that are leaner, more believable and generally better written. Joshi suggests that King's strengths as a writer include the accessible "everyman" quality of his prose, and his unfailingly insightful observations about the pains and joys of adolescence. Joshi cites two early non-supernatural novels—''Rage'' (1977) and ''The Running Man'' (1982)—as King's best, suggesting both are riveting and well-constructed suspense thrillers, with believable characters.

In 1996, King won an O. Henry Award for his short story "The Man in the Black Suit".

In 2003, King was honored by the National Book Awards with a lifetime achievement award, the Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, with his work being described thus:

Stephen King’s writing is securely rooted in the great American tradition that glorifies spirit-of-place and the abiding power of narrative. He crafts stylish, mind-bending page-turners that contain profound moral truths–some beautiful, some harrowing–about our inner lives. This Award commemorates Mr. King’s well-earned place of distinction in the wide world of readers and book lovers of all ages.

Some in the literary community expressed disapproval of the award: Richard Snyder, the former CEO of Simon & Schuster, described King's work as "non-literature", and critic Harold Bloom denounced the choice:

The decision to give the National Book Foundation's annual award for "distinguished contribution" to Stephen King is extraordinary, another low in the shocking process of dumbing down our cultural life. I've described King in the past as a writer of penny dreadfuls, but perhaps even that is too kind. He shares nothing with Edgar Allan Poe. What he is is an immensely inadequate writer on a sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph, book-by-book basis.

However, others came to King's defense, such as writer Orson Scott Card, who responded:

Let me assure you that King's work most definitely is literature, because it was written to be published and is read with admiration. What Snyder really means is that it is not the literature preferred by the academic-literary elite."

In Roger Ebert's review of the 2004 movie ''Secret Window'', he stated, "A lot of people were outraged that [King] was honored at the National Book Awards, as if a popular writer could not be taken seriously. But after finding that his book ''On Writing'' had more useful and observant things to say about the craft than any book since Strunk and White's ''The Elements of Style'', I have gotten over my own snobbery."

In 2008, King's book ''On Writing'' was ranked 21st on ''Entertainment Weekly'' list of "The New Classics: The 100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008".

Appearances and adaptations in other media

Stephen and his wife Tabitha own The Zone Corporation, a central Maine radio station group consisting of WZON, WZON-FM, and WKIT. The last of the three stations features a Frankenstein-esque character named "Doug E. Graves" as part of the logo and the tagline "Stephen King's Rock 'n' Roll Station."

King has stated that his favorite book-to-film adaptations are ''Stand by Me'', ''The Shawshank Redemption'', and ''The Mist''.

King's first film appearance was in George Romero's ''Knightriders'' as a buffoonish audience member. His first featured role was in ''Creepshow'', playing Jordy Verrill, a backwoods redneck who, after touching a fallen meteorite in hopes of selling it, grows moss all over his body. He has since made cameos in several adaptations of his works. He appeared in ''Pet Sematary'' as a minister at a funeral, in ''Rose Red'' as a pizza deliveryman, as a news reporter in ''The Storm of the Century'', in ''The Stand'' as "Teddy Wieszack," in the ''Shining'' miniseries as a band member, in ''The Langoliers'' as Tom Holby and in ''Sleepwalkers'' as the cemetery caretaker. He has also appeared in ''The Golden Years'', in ''Chappelle's Show'' and, along with fellow author Amy Tan, on ''The Simpsons'' as himself. In addition to acting, King tried his hand at directing with ''Maximum Overdrive'', in which he also made a cameo appearance as a man using an ATM that is on the fritz.

King produced and acted in a miniseries, ''Kingdom Hospital'', which is based on the Danish miniseries ''Riget'' by Lars von Trier. He also co-wrote ''The X-Files'' season 5 episode "Chinga" with the creator of the series Chris Carter.

King made an appearance as a contestant on ''Celebrity Jeopardy!'' in 1995, playing to benefit the Bangor Public Library.

King provided the voice of Abraham Lincoln in the audiobook version of ''Assassination Vacation''.

In 2010, King appeared in a cameo role as a cleaner named Bachman on the FX series ''Sons of Anarchy''.

The Syfy TV series ''Haven'' is based on King's novella, ''The Colorado Kid''.

Political activism

In April 2008, King spoke out against HB 1423, a bill pending in the Massachusetts state legislature that would restrict or ban the sale of violent video games to anyone under the age of 18. Although King stated that he had no personal interest in video games as a hobby, he criticized the proposed law, which he sees as an attempt by politicians to scapegoat pop culture, and to act as surrogate parents to others' children, which he asserted is usually "disastrous" and "undemocratic". He also saw the law as inconsistent, as it would forbid a 17-year-old, legally able to see ''Hostel: Part II'', from buying or renting ''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', which is violent but less graphic. While conceding that he saw no artistic merit in some violent video games, King also opined that such games reflect the violence that already exists in society, which would not be lessened by such a law, and would be redundant in light of the ratings system that already exists for video games. King argued that such laws allow legislators to ignore the economic divide between the rich and poor, and the easy availability of guns, which he felt were the more legitimate causes of violence.

A controversy emerged on May 5, 2008, when a conservative blogger posted a clip of King at a Library of Congress reading event. King, talking to high-school students, had said: "If you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that." The comment was described by the blog as "another in a long line of liberal media members bashing the military," and likened to John Kerry's similar remark from 2006. King responded later that day, saying, "That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt...I live in a national guard town, and I support our troops, but I don’t support either the war or educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career—military or otherwise." King again defended his comment in an interview with the ''Bangor Daily News'' on May 8, saying, "I’m not going to apologize for promoting that kids get better education in high school, so they have more options. Those that don’t agree with what I’m saying, I’m not going to change their minds."

King's website states that he is a supporter of the Democratic Party. During the 2008 presidential election, King voiced his support for Democratic candidate Barack Obama. King was quoted as calling conservative commentator Glenn Beck "Satan's mentally challenged younger brother."

On March 8, 2011, King spoke at a political rally in Sarasota aimed against Governor Rick Scott (R-FL), voicing his opposition to the Tea Party movement.

Personal life

King and his wife own and occupy three different houses, one in Bangor, one in Lovell, Maine, and they regularly winter in their waterfront mansion located off the Gulf of Mexico, in Sarasota, Florida. He and Tabitha have three children and three grandchildren.

Shortly after publication of ''The Tommyknockers'', King's family and friends staged an intervention, dumping evidence of his addictions taken from the trash including beer cans, cigarette butts, grams of cocaine, Xanax, Valium, NyQuil, dextromethorphan (cough medicine) and marijuana, on the rug in front of him. As King related in his memoir, he then sought help and quit all forms of drugs and alcohol in the late 1980s, and has remained sober since.

Tabitha King has published nine of her own novels. Both King's sons are published authors: Owen King published his first collection of stories, ''We're All in This Together: A Novella and Stories'', in 2005. Joseph Hillstrom published a collection of short stories, ''20th Century Ghosts'', in 2005. and his first novel, ''Heart-Shaped Box'' will be adapted into a feature film by director Neil Jordan.

King's daughter Naomi spent two years as a minister in the Unitarian Universalist Church, in Utica, New York. Naomi now ministers for the Unitarian Universalist Church of River of Grass, in Plantation, Florida with her same-sex partner, Rev. Dr. Thandeka.

King was raised Methodist, while his wife, Tabitha, was raised Catholic.

King is a fan of baseball, and of the Boston Red Sox in particular; he frequently attends the team's home and away games, and occasionally mentions the team in his novels and stories. He helped coach his son Owen's Bangor West team to the Maine Little League Championship in 1989. He recounts this experience in the ''New Yorker'' essay "Head Down", which also appears in the collection ''Nightmares & Dreamscapes''. In 1999, King wrote ''The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon,'' which featured former Red Sox pitcher Tom Gordon as the protagonist's imaginary companion. In 2004, King co-wrote a book titled ''Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season'' with Stewart O'Nan, recounting the authors' roller coaster reaction to the Red Sox's 2004 season, a season culminating in the Sox winning the 2004 American League Championship Series and World Series. In the 2005 film ''Fever Pitch,'' about an obsessive Boston Red Sox fan, King tosses out the first pitch of the Sox's opening day game. He has also devoted one of his columns for ''Entertainment Weekly'' on the subject of commercialism in Major League Baseball. He also starred in an ESPN ''SportsCenter'' advertisement referencing both his allegiance to the Red Sox and his preferred writing genre (horror fiction).

Awards

Alex Awards 2009: ''Just After Sunset''

American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults

* 1978: '''Salem's Lot''

* 1981: ''Firestarter''

Balrog Awards 1980: ''Night Shift''

Black Quill Awards 2009: ''Duma Key''

Bram Stoker Award

1987: ''Misery''

1990: ''Four Past Midnight''

1995: "Lunch at the Gotham Café"

1996: ''The Green Mile''

1998: ''Bag of Bones''

2002: Lifetime Achievement Award

2006: ''Lisey's Story''

British Fantasy Society Award

1981: Special Award

1982: ''Cujo''

1983: "The Breathing Method"

1987: ''It''

1999: ''Bag of Bones''

2005: ''The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower''

Deutscher Phantastik Preis

* 2000: ''Hearts in Atlantis''

* 2001: ''The Green Mile''

* 2003: ''Black House''

* 2004: International Author of the Year

* 2005: ''The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower''

Horror Guild

* 1997: ''Desperation''

* 2001: ''Riding the Bullet''

* 2001: ''On Writing''

* 2002: ''Black House''

* 2003: ''From a Buick 8''

* 2003: ''Everything's Eventual''

Hugo Award 1982: ''Danse Macabre''

International Horror Guild Award 1999: ''Storm of the Century''

Locus Awards

1982: ''Danse Macabre''

1986: ''Skeleton Crew''

1997: ''Desperation''

1999: ''Bag of Bones''

2001: ''On Writing''

Mystery Writers of America 2007: Grand Master Award National Book Award 2003: Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters

New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age 1982: ''Firestarter''

O. Henry Award 1996: "The Man in the Black Suit"

Quill Award 2005: ''Faithful''

Shirley Jackson Award 2009: ''Morality''

Spokane Public Library Golden Pen Award 1986: Golden Pen Award

University of Maine 1980: Alumni Career Award

Us Magazine 1982: Best Fiction Writer of the Year

World Fantasy Award

* 1980: Convention Award

* 1982: "The Reach"

* 1995: "The Man in the Black Suit"

* 2004: Lifetime Achievement

World Horror Convention 1992: World Horror Grandmaster

See also

;Bibliography

Stephen King bibliography

Short fiction by Stephen King

Unpublished and uncollected works by Stephen King

;Family

Joseph Hillstrom King

Naomi King

Owen King

Tabitha King

;King's fictional topography

Castle Rock, Maine

Derry, Maine

Jerusalem's Lot, Maine

;Projects

Dollar Baby

Rock Bottom Remainders

;Publishers

Cemetery Dance Publications

Scribner

Doubleday

Grant

Philtrum Press

Viking Press

;Derivative works

Media based on Stephen King works

References

Additional reading

''The Many Facets of Stephen King'', Michael R. Collings, Starmont House, 1985, ISBN 0-930261-14-3

''The Shorter Works of Stephen King'', Michael R. Collings with David A. Engebretson, Starmont House, 1985, ISBN 0-930261-02-X

''Stephen King as Richard Bachman'', Michael R. Collings, Starmont House, 1985, ISBN 0-930261-00-3

''The Annotated Guide to Stephen King: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography of the Works of America’s Premier Horror Writer'', Michael R. Collings, Starmont House, 1986, ISBN 0-930261-80-1

''The Films of Stephen King'', Michael R. Collings, Starmont House, 1986, ISBN 0-930261-10-0

''The Stephen King Phenomenon'', Michael R. Collings, Starmont House, 1987, ISBN 0-930261-12-7

''Horror Plum'd: An International Stephen King Bibliography and Guide 1960-2000'', Michael R. Collings, Overlook Connection Press, 2003, ISBN 1-892950-45-6

''The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia'', Stephen Spignesi, Contemporary Books, 1991, ISBN 978-0-8092-3818-7

''The Lost Work of Stephen King'', Stephen Spignesi, Birch Lane Press, 1998, ISBN 978-1-55972-469-2

''The Essential Stephen King'', Stephen Spignesi, Career Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1-56414-710-3

''The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King'', Rocky Wood, David Rawsthorne and Norma Blackburn, Kanrock Partners, ISBN 0-9750593-3-5

''Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished'', Rocky Wood, Cemetery Dance, 2006, ISBN 1-58767-130-1

''The Stephen King Collector's Guide'', Rocky Wood and Justin Brooks, Kanrock Partners, ISBN 978-0-9750593-5-7

''Stephen King: A Primary Bibliography of the World's Most Popular Author'', Justin Brooks, Cemetery Dance, 2008, ISBN 1-58767-153-0

''Stephen King: The Non-Fiction'', Rocky Wood and Justin Brooks, Cemetery Dance, 2008, ISBN 1-58767-160-3

''Stephen King Is Richard Bachman'', Michael R. Collings, Overlook Connection Press, March 2008, ISBN 1-892950-74-X

''Stephen King'', Gary Hoppenstand (Editor), Salem Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1-58765-685-9

''See also Books about Stephen King''

External links

Stephen King's Official Web Site

Official Website for Carrie The Musical

Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation

La Torre Nera – Stephen King Italian/English Website

Video of a March 2008 interview with King in Sarasota, Fla.

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birth date	January 28, 1959
birth place	Montbéliard, France
othername	Frank A. Darabont
occupation	Film director Screenwriter Producer
yearsactive	1981–present
website	}}

Frank Darabont (born January 28, 1959) 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. In 2010 he developed and executive produced the AMC network television series ''The Walking Dead''.

Early life

Darabont was born in a refugee camp in 1959 in Montbéliard, Doubs, France. His parents fled Hungary after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. When he was still an infant, his family moved to the United States, settling in Chicago, Illinois. When Darabont was five the family moved to Los Angeles, California.

Career

Early films

By the age of 20, Darabont became involved in filmmaking. One of his first films was a short adaptation of Stephen King's ''The Woman in the Room'', which made the semi-finalist list for Academy Award consideration in 1983, and was shown in its entirety in the 1986 syndicated television special, ''Stephen King's World of Horror''. The short, a "Dollar Baby", led to a close association with King, who granted him the "handshake deal" rights to another one of his shorter works, ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption'' from the collection ''Different Seasons''.

Prior to his directing career, Darabont was a successful screenwriter with work on genre films that included: ''A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'', ''The Blob'', ''The Fly II'' and an unproduced sequel to ''Commando''. Darabont made his feature length directorial debut with ''Buried Alive'', a TV movie with a $2,000,000 budget that aired on the USA Network in 1990. Darabont followed with an extended run as writer for George Lucas's short-lived television series ''The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles''.

Success

Darabont became famous after making good on the deal with Stephen King by writing and directing ''The Shawshank Redemption'', for which he was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay at the 1995 Academy Awards. The film was also nominated for six other Academy Awards including Best Picture.

After a five-year hiatus, Darabont returned to the screen with the well-received ''The Green Mile'', a film he directed, scripted and produced. Like ''The Shawshank Redemption'', this film is also based on a Stephen King work. The film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture and Darabont was nominated for his second Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He followed this with ''The Majestic'' two years later in 2001 to considerably less fanfare. Following lukewarm reviews from critics, the film failed at the box-office, recouping only half of its $72 million budget internationally.

Darabont is known to have worked on the scripts of the Steven Spielberg films such as ''Saving Private Ryan''. In 2002, he penned an early draft of ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull''; while Spielberg reportedly loved it, George Lucas rejected it.

Darabont appeared in "First Class Jerk", the October 26, 2008, episode of ''Entourage'' in which he propositions Vincent Chase to star in a TV show he is executive producing. He appeared in a September 12, 2009, episode where he is now the director of the film about Enzo Ferrari, who Vince is portraying.

According to the ''Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion'' series by Titan Books, Darabont—a huge fan of the re-imagined series—was slated to direct "Islanded in a Stream of Stars", the penultimate episode of the show's final season. Due to scheduling conflicts, he was unable to take the job, which fell to series star (and previous helmer) Edward James Olmos.

Darabont directed the first season of ''The Walking Dead'', the AMC series based on Robert Kirkman's comic book of the same name, having written and directed the pilot. The series features a number of Darabont regulars, including Jeffrey DeMunn and Laurie Holden. In July 2011, Darabont was fired from his position as executive producer of the series.

In 2005, Cemetery Dance Publications published Darabont's novella ''Walpuski's Typewriter'' in a limited edition. The story, originally written in his early twenties, first appeared in Jessie Horsting's magazine ''Midnight Graffiti''.

Filmography

Feature films
! Year	! Film	! Other notes
1983	''The Woman in the Room''	short film
1987	''A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors''	writer only
1988		writer only
1989	''The Fly II''	writer only
1990		TV movie, director only
	''The Shawshank Redemption''	Hochi Film Award for Best Foreign Language Film Humanitas Prize for Best Film Kinema Junpo Reader's Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film USC Scripter Award (shared with Stephen King) Nominated - Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated - Golden Globe for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated - Directors Guild of America Best Director Nominated - Writers Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Writing
	writer onlyNominated - Saturn Award for Best Writing (shared with Steph Lady)
1999		Nominated - Academy Award for Best Picture Nominated - Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Director Nominated - Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay Nominated - Directors Guild of America Award for Best Director Nominated - OFCS Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated - Nebula Award for Best Script Nominated - USC Scripter Award (shared with Stephen King)
2001
2007		Saturn Award for Best DVD Special Edition Release 2 disc Special Edition. Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Director Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Horror Film Nominated - Empire Award Best Horror
2010		TV series, writer, director of the pilot

Major Award Nominations

Frank Darabont has been nominated for 3 Academy Awards and 1 Golden Globe, although he did not win any of these. Over his film career he has won many small awards but has yet to win a major one.

In 1994, he was nominated for an ''Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay'', for The Shawshank Redemption. For that same film he was nominated for his ''Golden Globe for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture'' which he also lost. 5 years later, in 1999, he was nominated for the ''Academy Award for Best Film'', and also the ''Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay'', for his film ''The Green Mile''. Both of his nominated films are based on novels by author Stephen King.

Nominated: ''Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay'' (The Shawshank Redemption; 1994)

Nominated: ''Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture'' (The Shawshank Redemption; 1994)

Nominated: ''Academy Award for Best Film'' (The Green Mile; 1999)

Nominated: ''Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay'' (The Green Mile; 1999)

References

External links

Cemetery Dance Publications, publisher of Darabont's first book

EW

Frank Darabont at FEARnet

Lilja, Hans-Åke. Interview Lilja's Library - The World of Stephen King, February 6, 2007

Category:1959 births Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American screenwriters Category:American people of Hungarian descent Category:Living people Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from Montbéliard

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