DARABONT ON...
...Tom Hanks [245k WAV] or [1.4Mb QuickTime] ...John Coffey [340k WAV] or 2Mb QuickTime]

By Donna Freydkin
Reporting for CNN Interactive

(CNN) -- Years before the serialized novel "The Green Mile" topped best-seller lists and the big-screen adaptation turned into one of the most anticipated movies of this year, director Frank Darabont was a confessed Stephen King addict.

In fact, he remembers the exact moment he fell victim to King's empathetic horror tomes.

While in high school, Darabont belonged to a book club he could ill afford. One day, a copy of King's "The Shining" came in the mail. Darabont was broke and had every intention of sending the book back. But then he opened it, and started reading.

The book, says Darabont, was "the most amazing human tragedy I think I've ever read. The movie completely misses the point, unfortunately. (Director Stanley) Kubrick ... boy, did he screw that one up."

So Darabont decided to right the wrongs -- including such duds as 1992's "The Lawnmower Man" -- done to film versions of King's top-selling books. For the director, King's books weren't really about horror or things that go thump in the night. Rather, they're human tragedies about real people oftentimes coping with surreal problems.

"He's got such a spark of humanity, real humanism, in his work, even in the more obviously horror pieces," says Darabont. "That's what I found most compelling about this story. It was a hell of an emotional journey."

Of course, it's a tad ironic that while many of King's characters die grisly deaths, his books have only bestowed fame and fortune on one of his biggest fans.

Darabont's fascination with King led him to bring the author's novella "Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption" to movie screens. The 1994 film, titled simply "The Shawshank Redemption," nailed seven Oscar nominations, including best picture. At that year's Academy Awards nominees' luncheon, Darabont also ended up meeting actor Tom Hanks, also nominated for his role in "Forrest Gump."

"(Hanks) said, 'Oh, I love "Shawshank"! If you have anything you want me to consider, please call,'" says Darabont. "So I did. I sent him 'The Green Mile' and he committed within two days. Alright! That was the easiest grand-slam home run of my career."

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Fast forward five years. "The Green Mile" opens nationwide on December 10 and has "Oscar contender" written all over it. It stars Hanks as Paul Edgecomb, a 1930s death row guard in a Southern prison, and veritable newcomer Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey, an inmate with supernatural powers. A meticulous, detailed adaptation of King's hit 1996 serial, Darabont's movie runs a whopping three hours and eight minutes.

Not that his "Shawshank" fame made him a household name. At least, not with Duncan, a former nightclub bouncer who got his break in "Armageddon" opposite Bruce Willis. Duncan says that his mother drew a complete blank when he told her he landed a part in "The Green Mile."

"We cried. I said, 'Mom, I'm gonna be working with Tom!'" he says. "And she said, 'Oh, Tom!' Then I said, 'I'm going to be working with Frank Darabont,' and she said, 'Who?'. She didn't know who Frank was, and I told him that, I told him that my mother didn't know who he was.'"

If "The Green Mile" lives up to its pre-release hype, she and most everyone else will know about Darabont. So far, though, the movie has gotten mixed reviews, with TIME's Richard Corliss calling it "a slacky, sappy film," and Newsweek's David Ansen describing it as "a lumbering, self-important three-hour melodrama that defies credibility at every turn." Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum says it's "a long stretch, but a scenic one."

The critical drubbings leave Darabont unfazed. According to the director, "The Shawshank Redemption" got equally diverse reviews, only to end up with a slew of Oscar nominations. And Stephen King, Darabont says, is happy with the final outcome of his hit novel.

"He's delighted with it," says Darabont. "And indeed, I think that for him, this really came from the heart, this piece. So to have it represented well to the movie-going audience was quite a pleasure for him."