The D-Day sequence at Normandy, in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998), was an addition that Darabont himself proposed during script revisions.

Good friends with Stephen King.

Frank Darabont has been one of the top script doctors and rewrites in Hollywood going back to the early 1990s. Among the projects he has performed uncredited writing on include: The Rocketeer (1991), Copycat (1995), The Fan (1996), Eraser (1996), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Majestic (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Salton Sea (2002), Collateral (2004), Law Abiding Citizen (2009) and most recently Godzilla (2014).

After closely working for more than a year with Steven Spielberg on a script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), the script was personally rejected by producer George Lucas who had taken it upon himself to rewrite the script to his liking. Spielberg loved the script, but deferred to longtime pal Lucas on the matter.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) is ranked #23 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time.

Was inspired to pursue a career in film after seeing the George Lucas film THX 1138 (1971) in his youth.

He was born in 1959 in a refugee camp in France, where his parents were briefly resettled after the Soviet crushing of the 1956 Budapest uprising.

Was hired in 2004 to write the script for Mission: Impossible III (2006) after screenwriters Robert Towne and Dean Georgaris failed to deliver good enough drafts. Darabont's script would get polished by Joe Carnahan who was originally attached to direct following David Fincher's departure. Eventually, Cruise hired J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci to write the script for the project.

He has directed one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Shawshank Redemption (1994).

Wrote a draft of the screenplay for Collateral (2004).

His first job after finishing school was working at the famed Hollywood Egyptian Theater at the concession stand and as a seat finder, watching movies for free.

Has directed 2 actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Morgan Freeman (Best Actor, The Shawshank Redemption (1994)) and Michael Clarke Duncan (Best Supporting Actor, The Green Mile (1999).

Graduated from Hollywood High School in 1977 and did not attend college.

His first novella "Walpuski's Typewriter" was published in 2005.

Is good friends with movie poster artist Drew Struzan.

He was short listed as a director for The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016) and eventually agreed to co-write and direct the film before dropping out.

Sold his first screenplay titled Black Cat Run in 1986, but it was not produced until over a decade later as a television film under the same name. Darabont was approached by Chuck Russell (who was a producer on Hell Night and The Seduction) with an offer to become his writing partner, as he had become interested in Darabont's writing after reading a spec script he had written for the television series M*A*S*H (1972). The two began working on a script for a remake of the film The Blob (1958), which they had planned to shop around to studios, until they were both hired to rewrite the script of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) with Russell directing the film. The two were only given two weeks to rewrite the script and managed to do it in ten days. The success of their A Nightmare on Elm Street film allowed them to produce the first script they had originally written, The Blob (1988) Darabont was now a successful writer for hire and went on to write The Fly II (1989) an early draft of The Rocketeer (1991), and an unproduced sequel to Commando (1988).

He became involved in filmmaking by becoming a production assistant on such films as Hell Night (1981) The Seduction (1982) and Trancers (1984).

Currently working on adapting "The Mist," a short story by Stephen King, into a film. No studio announcement has been made as of October 2004, but if all goes on schedule, the final product should see theatrical release in the second half of 2006. (Source: Daniel Robert Epstein's interview with Frank Darabont at http://suicidegirls.com/words/Frank+Darabont/ ) (October 2004)

In Shreveport, Lousiana in the middle of Pre-production on "Stephen King's The Mist" (January 2007)