look, frank darabont was 24 years old. he wrote a letter to stephen king asking for permission to adapt one of his short stories. king said yes and charged him one dollar. one dollar. and what darabont made with that dollar and a shoestring budget is one of the most quietly devastating short films you'll ever see. the woman in the room is thirty minutes long and it doesn't waste a single one of them. a lawyer watches his mother dying of abdominal cancer in a hospital, in constant pain, and he has to decide whether to give her the overdose of painkillers that will finally end her suffering. that's it. that's the whole film. and it is absolutely crushing. stephen king called this the best short film ever made based on his work. considering king has had his work adapted roughly ten thousand times, that is not a small thing to say. and it makes sense, because darabont understood from the very beginning that king's real power isn't horror, it's grief and love and ordinary people in impossible situations. darabont wasn't happy with how it turned out, but it led king to grant him the handshake deal rights to rita hayworth and shawshank redemption. so whatever darabont thought of it, king saw exactly what was there. one dollar. shawshank redemption came from one dollar and a letter. let that sink in.
look, frank darabont was 24 years old. he wrote a letter to stephen king asking for permission to adapt one of his short stories. king said yes and charged him one dollar. one dollar. and what darabont made with that dollar and a shoestring budget is one of the most quietly devastating short films you'll ever see. the woman in the room is thirty minutes long and it doesn't waste a single one of them. a lawyer watches his mother dying of abdominal cancer in a hospital, in constant pain, and he has to decide whether to give her the overdose of painkillers that will finally end her suffering. that's it. that's the whole film. and it is absolutely crushing. stephen king called this the best short film ever made based on his work. considering king has had his work adapted roughly ten thousand times, that is not a small thing to say. and it makes sense, because darabont understood from the very beginning that king's real power isn't horror, it's grief and love and ordinary people in impossible situations. darabont wasn't happy with how it turned out, but it led king to grant him the handshake deal rights to rita hayworth and shawshank redemption. so whatever darabont thought of it, king saw exactly what was there. one dollar. shawshank redemption came from one dollar and a letter. let that sink in.
