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Return of Quint's set reports from Stephen King's THE MIST!!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the first report from my return visit to the set of Stephen King’s THE MIST. I had four reports run from my last visit. You can read these by clicking on the following links:
DAY ONE!!!
DAY TWO!!!
DAY THREE!!!
DAY FOUR!!!
The drive to Shreveport from Austin was a bit more hectic this time around. The heavens were wide open and it was a rain-filled crazy drive that resulted in a very late arrival, just before 4am. The call time was 7am. Fuck sleep, eh? This is THE MIST!
I got to set a little after they started. As tired as I was from the 6 hour drive and the even less sleep, it was nothing compared to Darabont. He’s at the end of the shoot, after a long day on location yesterday. They were plagued by technical problems and the shoot is running a little late. He looked beat. Sharp, of course, but dead tired.
I had planned to come out and see nothing but the pharmacy sequence. Fans of King’s novella will know why I was crazy excited to come back for that. And I will see them film some pharmacy stuff, but today they’re catching up, grabbing some final Market stuff.
Once again, I begin typing up this report sitting in the “Breads ‘n Cakes” section, behind Darabont in video village. It’s eerily similar to my experience last month, except now there’s a mixture of excitement and exhaustion in the air. They crew are on the last lap of a quick, but complex shoot.
What I’m going to see on this 3 day visit will all be from the last act of the film, so I’m going to have to tip-toe a little bit more than I did in my first reports, which covered parts of the movie that take place in the first half of the story.
Here I’ll avoid the big beats when I can, especially character deaths, but if it’s in King’s original story I won’t feel too badly about discussing it. So, if you haven’t read the story, beware… there may be some spoilers for you in these reports.
The very first shot upon my return involved a character pounding on the front doors, screaming to be let back in and something coming out of the mist and snapping him up. The It, of course, was not there.
The stuntman was rigged with cables and was jerked back, quickly, disappearing into the mist. This was done 3 times and the take that I think will make it in had the stunt double disappearing into the mist before gravity took back over and he began his descent back to the earth. In other words, he was just yanked up into the mist and as far as we know he kept going up, into the gaping maw of whatever the hell grabbed him.
Everette Burrell, the grand poo-bah on-set representing Café FX, who are handling the CGI for the flick, asked exactly how much Darabont wanted to show of the creature and what it’d look like.
Darabont thought for a bit and hit some ideas back and forth before deciding the shape should be very undefined, but massive. “Like an iceberg in the mist.” Everette mimed some flailing arms, ie tentacle appendages and got a thumbs up from Frank.
They grabbed some reference plates, repeating the camera motion without the stunt man in the frame, for the VFX peeps.
I’d heard that B stage, where the loading dock was on the last trip, was the home of the pharmacy set, so I took a quick trip over there to see what I could see.
B stage was home to more than one set. To get to the pharmacy I had to walk past David’s (Thomas Jane) study, the set built as a single room with comfortable looking couches and easels set up. David’s an artist and his work is all around the room.
There’s a cool, geeky artist whose work is being used, but I’ll let that be a surprise for when you see the finished flick.
The pharmacy set took up the most room on the stage, though. It’s built like a kind of idealized ‘60s pharmacy, with the little soda fountain/diner counter just past the front doors, the actual pharmacy in the back and rows of shelves overloaded with tacky trinkets in between.
There was a lady spraying up cobwebs, the set probably 85-90% dressed at the time of my first visit. From the outside the webs looked strangely like haunted house cobwebs, like stretched cotton balls. From the inside they looked much less hokey. It’s the type of web that’s… chunky, you know? It’s not an elegantly spun piece of beauty, but a thick and lumpy mass.
Walking into the pharmacy was like walking into an Animal Planet nightmare, realizing you’re in a funnel web spider’s domain.
In the story, someone gets hurt really badly, and a group ventures to the pharmacy next door, braving the 15-20 feet in the mist. The door was left open and the mist has gotten inside. When they shoot, the interior is going to be misty, concealing the nightmare around our group.
The webbing wasn’t built up near the door, but the deeper into the store you go, the crazier it gets.
I counted at least 6 bodies, drained husks of people, tangled in the webs. My favorite was a guy that was sitting at the diner counter, bent over onto the countertop, but completely encased in webbing so only the vaguest shape hints that the mass was ever a man.
Most bodies were strung up on the ceiling or in corners, sometimes the arms or legs bent in unnatural positions. A neat little addition that I didn’t expect was the clumps of spider egg sacks. They were balled in the corners, where beams met the ceiling and also attached to the cocooned bodies.
My understanding, though, is that we’ll be seeing a different birthing process for the little spiders… but that’ll, hopefully, be for another report. And I’ll go into more pharmacy whenever they start shooting in there.
I went back to A stage and caught Darabont blocking the next scene with his cast. This is a big scene where our core group has to get out of the store. You have David (Thomas Jane), his young son Billy (Nathan Gamble), Amanda (Laurie Holden), Irene (Frances Sternhagen), Dan (Jeff DeMunn), Myron (David Jensen), the old guy who was going on and on about the mills on my last trip and Ollie (Toby Jones).
David, wielding a mop handle with one hand while holding his son in the other, screams for someone to move the damn ice machine that is barricading the entrance.
This might be a good time to mention the difference in appearance, the face lift the market has gotten since I left. The windows are now cracked. There are easily a dozen spots where something has impacted the windows, hard enough to cause circular shattering. It’s still holding together, but barely.
One pane is completely covered with plywood and one pane is cracked so badly the survivors have had to duct tape the cracks to keep the window whole. Plus there are hundreds of bags of dog food stacked up, like sandbags in WW1 trench warfare.
Anyway, our group converges on the door. There’s a moment between David and Ollie as they discuss something very big that has just happened. Wish I could be more detailed, but if you don’t know why the group is leaving the store, then I really do think it’s best you let the movie tell you how they get to this point. If you’ve read the book, then you know why.
After a beat, Ollie and David unlock the two doors and yell, “Let’s go!” as they throw open the doors and run out into the mist.
They spent a few hours getting coverage of everybody in the core group and reactions of those around them, including getting a really nice shot on the B camera. It was outside looking in with David seen through the glass doors on one side and Ollie on the other. When they throw open the doors, Ollie screams as he runs towards the mist, right past camera. It was a really nice shot.
It seems today they were picking up missed set-ups and pieces of scenes. The next set-up jumped back a little bit. The core group in the store, led by David, come to the decision that it’s better to brave the mist than to stay in the store. But they have to be covert about it.
The sequence was little Billy sleeping, curled up next to his father, a bag of sugar for a pillow. David is also sleeping, but is awoken by Amanda gently shaking him. “It’s dawn.” She’s surrounded by those who are planning on making a break for it, too.
Humble, likable Ollie tells David he’s packed 5 grocery bags and stashed them at the registers. They all whisper conspiratorially, especially when David outlines the plan to try to make it to his car. “The doors are unlocked, so whoever gets there first open the doors and everybody pile in as fast as you can. Let’s go.”
They got much coverage of this, from close-ups on Toby Jones, Nathan Gamble and Laurie Holden to the reverse, which has my favorite shot of the sequence.
The shot begins the scene. It starts on the front of the market, looking down a long aisle. Glass is cracked, shelves are a mess. The camera tilts down to show a couple of people sleeping on the floor. The shot continues moving, panning right and racking focus to Thomas Jane’s sleeping face.
Laurie leans in and wakes Tom Jane up, both in profile.
Loved that movement. The scene continues mostly on Jane, in an extreme close up.
He kept getting caught up on “My landcruiser’ sup the center lane of the parking lot.” Maybe it was a last minute script change or just one of those sentences that unexpectedly tongue-tie you. But he kept tripping up on that line.
Jane did one take where he just kept starting that part of his scene over again and did that about 4 times before he spat it out. Every single take after that he got it out perfectly, sounding much more natural than he did before.
Strangely enough, as low-energy as it seemed at the beginning of the day, the steam was picking up. There was a playfulness that was catching with the cast and crew. Maybe they were just giddy that the day was in its final hours, but the energy was undoubtedly up.
Sam Witwer (playing an army man, Wayne Jessup) was joking around with William Sadler… If you remember, Witwer was the guy I had that incredibly geeky STAR WARS conversation with on my last visit. He said hi at lunch, but came to sit and chat in between takes.
He was geeking out again, but this time about working with Darabont and how great the movie’s looking. Then he talked up Laurie Holden who was passing by and they both told me how great the other was… Then Witwer leaves for the next set-up, but comes back to point at Sadler a couple feet away. “Laurie’s great, but Sadler… completely annoying!”
And Darabont danced.
The last sequence of the day is even further back in time. This is another thing that’s kind of in a gray area, so I can’t go into much detail, but the energy reached a fever pitch. The extras in the store, the survivors, reach a kind of oneness, a mob-mentality takes over.
Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden) whips up those in the store with her religious fervor and it comes to a boiling point in this scene.
It’s a pretty emotional scene, with “the good guys” reacting to the craziness around them. The extras were all shouting and it was like a cockfight, people screaming over each other. After a few takes of that, everybody was more than wide awake.
Funny, since that was the last shot of the day.
Tired or not, everything Darabont got today looked fantastic on playback. All the layered character work you come to expect from Darabont is there… and in a movie with giant monsters! How about that?
Much like the last trip, Darabont gave me the okay to take some pictures for you folks. You’ve seen a few of them in the article so far, but now I’m going to leave you with a tease, a glimpse of the madness in the pharmacy. Enjoy!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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always a bridesmaid, never a bride :) i think this has to be my favorite king short; anyone with an idea of a release date for this?
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They're always full of detail.
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November 2007
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It just keeps getting better and better Quint. Muchos Gracias for the great scoops!
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it would be called The Missed...and if it had a sex change, it would be The Mist...
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BadMrWonka
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...though I havent yet been. This set report did it for me though.
Any think that IT would make a FANTASTIC miniseries. Honestly, I have had LITERAL shot for shot episodes in my head for about 2 years. If anyone out there is interested, give me a call...Really, I think it could be awesome. Like, LOST style... -
...is that in some magical way, he manages to capture almost the exact imagery that I imagined when reading the stories long ago! Shawshank was a perfect interpretation of what I imagined. Same for Green Mile and now, according to the pics I've seen thus far, with Mist. Seriously, looking at those pics above was like I'd already been there. He's do frickin' good! Stand By Me was another perfect transfer, but of course Darabont didn't direct that one.
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that was stupid
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Glad to have these back, Quint. Can't wait to hear more. Love to also hear that for that one stunt, Mr D doesn't want us to see exactly what it is. Though those impact shots on the glass kind of ad an 'urgency' to the 'we gotta get out of here' mode. MY guess is that those must have come from major 'bird thing' impacts. Though I'm a bit confused-I thought the trek to the pharmacy was to see why noone had come over to the market when the Mist hit them. Btw, you guys should have seen Chicago on Saturday-we had heavy fog that moved in-you couldn't see more than 10 ft in front of you. It was one of those days where you imagine you could go to the edge of Lake Michigan, and be pulled into the white clouded air by some unseen creature.
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Buttick, Buttock, Buttick, Buttock...
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That's a cool name for a band!
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And there are some black blobs in it, too! I haven't seen such an exciting set picture since those Spiderman III photos showing a genuine street.
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....skills may be a little ummm...lacking Quint, but you are the man!!!
Hot Damn Spider Babies! Egg sacs! And bloody hand prints on the windows! Just exactly the kind of chaos I was expecting from my favorite King short story. And I don't recall the stacked bags of pet food in the story, but it is an extra touch on the panicked state of the market populace. Well done Frank! And thanks Quint for the continuing coverage. -
I went back to watch The Mist webisode again, and saw your post there about The Host. Thanks for the reminder about it. And no, I haven't seen The Host yet. :( I live out on the left nut of no mans land, and The Host hasn't made it's way here.
Anyway, I thought i'd post here instead of in the webisode talkback to say thanks for the reminder about it. -
Yes, tis me. Sorry.
I just wanted to say, "I hope the geeky artist whose work is in the movie is Bernie Wrightson! -
that I am seeing in these pics. Helps me to hope that The Mist movie will live up to its original source material.
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on the B camera. It was outside looking in...". I think the cameras should all be on the inside looking out. The camera could follow as the group runs out of the store. If I as a wiewer is placed outside looking in I will loos the feeling of isolation that I should share with the people in the store.
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and his album. http://cdbaby.com/cd/chr istopher leemusic (every track is there in mp3) It is soooo bizarre. And if you read the interview that I read that made me seek it out... it's made even MORE bizarre because he doesn't seem to have the slightest bit of self awareness about how bad it is (not like Shatner's records). Oh and sorry to interrupt- another great set report... I am just obsessed with Dooku's record now!
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. . . but I'm pretty sure they definitely stacked the dog food bags against the window like that. Now come on November!!!
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...the bags are stacked and, at one point, a tentacle wraps itself around one and squeezes until kibble flies everywhere. I remember that image pretty vividly.
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Seriously, how many "good" King movies have been made? 4 or 5 out of 50? How can you possibly get excited about this. The statistical odds are stacked against this film. I'll wait for it to come out on DVD, I'll Netflix it, I'll copy it, and some day I might watch it if there aren't 100 better movie choices in front on me.
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I just listened to The Mist a couple weeks ago, and I'd forgotten how good it was. Just checking out Quint's reports lets me know it's gonna be damn faithful to the story, and that *thrills* me! I truly can't wait to see this!
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I totally agree with you. The pictures of the grocery store fit the way I pictured it almost exactly. Darabont's set looks damn near perfect.
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no shit, Captain Obvious...do you watch Lost, too, and go, "this isn't very good..."
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**sitting on the front porch swing**
Stephen King: Hey, you know what's scary?
Tabitha King: what?
SK: fog
TK: oh yeah, fog is scary.
SK: I think I'm gonna write a story about fog.
TK: oh good idea.
SK: yeah....fog.
TK: wasn't there already a story about scary fog?
SK: (long pause) oh yeah. The Fog. (short pause) I'll call mine The Mist.
TK: oh good idea. Mist is scary too. you've still got it, baby. now let's go do it in the graveyard.
SK: yeah, sure. -
I agree with you there are lots of crappy King-movies out there, but this one´s got Darabont. He got shawshank and green mile right.
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In the book (it's been a while) did thin whispish strands of webbing you could barely see not acid/slice intruders as they passed through it? This making them even more like real spiders is grounding them in reality a little too much for me. The book's/King's approach was more otherworldly. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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Grew up in the Bible Belt where King's books were nowhere near the school library (even in high school) and I really had no intrest in seeking them out. I had a friend in high school who worked with me at a grocery store. One particularly odd summer day,we had a horrible storm where it was just errie outside,like dark green looking clouds and really stong winds and shit so there was like no one in the store and the customers we did have were kind of stuck there. My friend started telling me about this story he read called The Mist, that had all these people trapped in a grocery store with scary ass shit outside in the mist. It's weird because down the sidewalk from our grocery store,in short walking distance, was a Pharmacy where my brother worked. Wrong time to tell that story,looking forward to the film though.
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...King wrote The Mist in the late 70's, and it was first published in about 1980, so it pre-dated Carpenter's The Fog.
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Both of those films you mention are among the good ones created with King's material.
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Fish Tank, yes, the spider webs in the book were acidic. There's no indiciation that they aren't here, though. Quint didn't report any of the action filmed in the Pharmacy yet. If I remember correctly, it was only the freshly sprayed webbing that burned. There was also webbing covering everything, very much like the photos Quint took and the way he described it. Keep your faith. It's too cool of a detail for Darabont NOT to include. I'm sure it'll still be in there.
In regard to the dog food and tentacles stuff, I do recall in the story they stacked up dog food bags and stuffed holes in the glass with bags too. The tentacle that grabbed a bag and squeezed it like a big tube of toothpaste happened in the loading dock sequence, not by the windows.
I'm REALLY psyched about this movie. I'm surprised to hear it's being released in 2007, though. I had assumed it would be a mid-to-late 2008 release. I hope they don't rush it in post-production. So far they seem to be nailing it perfectly. -
**in the bathroom at a Denny's in Alabama**
JOHN CARPENTER: Hey, I just read this story called The Mist, by Stephen King. Boy was it scary!
GUY IN STALL: you don't say.
JC: yeah, I think I'll make a crappy movie, but I'll call mine THE FOG, so's I won't get sued.
GUY IN STALL: whatever.
JC: Hey, would you mind a courtesy flush?
GUY IN STALL: no.
JC: come on, it's unbearable!!
GUY IN STALL: just pretend it's a killer fog.
JC: hey! that's good, that's real good. this is helping me get inside the mind of the fog!
GUY IN STALL: oh yeah, well here comes some more inspiration, courtesy of Denny's Grand Slam.
JC: hey, you wanna go do it in the graveyard.
GUY IN STALL: yeah, sure. -
Seriously, the guy is fantastic. When is this coming out again?
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now to go back and read the rest of the report.
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this looks fuckin awesome. just like the story. and darabont!!! YOU HAVE TO PUT THE BEHEMOTH SCENE IN THERE! that is the pinnacle of the story.
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I'm really excited for this film! The Behemoth better be there!!!
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... Send Quint to EVERY fucking set. The guy writes exactly what he sees. Nice one again Quint. Really, I dont know why you couln't just stay on set for the whole shoot.
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I live here in China, and we got
'The Host' a while back. I've saw it in the cinema twice and once on DVD, and I have to say... see it in the cinema if you can. Its immensely better. Its by far the most original (yet familiar) monster movie I've seen for a long time.
On another subject, I hope the CGI dudes on 'The Mist' have a little more to go on than just some woman flailing her arms in the air. Some concept art maybe? And someone mentioned this last time too... I hope the final scene of the novella is absolutely intact. That has always stayed with me too. -
I want to see that made, and obviously the Dark Tower series (but we'll probably have to wait for Lost to end before Damon Lindelof can get started on it).
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no faith lost (yet) ;-)
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thanks for the heads-up on the release, and for the great on-set reports. i'm with moto and spaz_monkey; this looks like another awesome-possum darabont imagining of a king story, and so far, it's pretty much how i've seen it in my mind all these years. i can't wait to see some more shots of the actors in character- think you may be able to oblige, quint? :)
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(with appologies to douche baggins) **in a giant scrooge mcduck-sized vat of money** steven king: hey frank, i need some more cash to swim in; got any ideas? frank darabont: you could make another movie from one of your stories... sk: not a bad plan; you cooking anything right now? fd: nah; since lucas screwed me on the whole indy thing, i've been pretty bored. sk: why not do the long walk or rage? those could be fun. fd: nah; lets do the mist. i hear fog can be pretty scary stuff, and we all know that scary equals box office. sk: great. lets start tomorrow.hey, do you want to do it in the money vat? fd: yeah, sure.
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all I have to say.
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Well
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One of my favorites and I would love to see it...and yea give us the last two minutes!
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take it to the limit, I can't wait for this picture.
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Were the two King projects I wanted to see made. After this comes out and hopefully then a great version of Long Walk comes out (Richard Kelly?) I can die happy.
Oh wait...there's that whole business of The Talisman...fucking Mick Garris. -
I think he's referring to James Herbert's book, The Fog, which came out in 1975.
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I think the word you were struggling to find to describe Quint was "effective".
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I'm with you up to 11. You should have stopped there.
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what the exec douchbags will do to this film. I KNOW They will insist on showing lots of CG monsters. Remember, the great thing about this story was the fact that we got quick glimpses of these things because they were so fast and deadly!
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with you there. The scary thing is the unknown horror in the mist.
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"a bit".
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