The Green Mile
Short description
In a Southern penitentiary during the 1930s, Paul Edgecomb supervises the death row block known as the Green Mile, the stretch of corridor that condemned men walk on their way to the electric chair. He runs the block with as much decency as the job allows, but the work has worn him down, and he is suffering from an illness he cannot shake. Then a new prisoner arrives: John Coffey, a huge, quiet black man convicted of murdering two young girls. Coffey frightens the guards with his size, yet he is timid and gentle, afraid of the dark. Before long Paul discovers that Coffey possesses a supernatural gift for healing, and he begins to question whether this childlike giant can truly be guilty of the crime for which he is waiting to die.
Frank Darabont directed and wrote the screenplay, his third feature after Buried Alive and The Shawshank Redemption and his second adaptation of a Stephen King prison story. Tom Hanks leads as Paul, with David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, James Cromwell and Michael Jeter among the credited cast of forty-six. Michael Clarke Duncan plays Coffey.
Made for a budget of sixty million dollars, the film earned about 287 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 8.6 from 1.6 million votes, on TMDB 8.5 from just under 20,000 votes, and critics rated it 7.4 from 134 reviews. The audience scores run notably higher than the critics' average.
What's left behind the scenes
- The events of the film take place in 1935 (in the book – in 1932). This change was due to the desire to use footage from “The Cylinder” (1935) in the film.
- David Morse is only one inch shorter than Michael Clarke Duncan. During filming, several different methods were used to create the illusion that John Coffey was an incredible giant.
- The actor who played Eduard Delacroix, Michael Jeter, already had experience working with “talented” mice by the time of filming. That film was “Mousehunt” from 1997.
- Originally, Tom Hanks was supposed to play the role of the aged Paul Edgecomb as well. After a couple of makeup experiments, it was decided that Tom could not be adequately made up, and then Dabbs Greer was chosen for this small role.
- The electric chair model used during the filming was constructed based on the original blueprints of an antiquated electric chair known as “Old Sparky.” Stephen King tried to understand what those sentenced to death feel and asked to be tied to the chair. According to him, the sensations were not the most pleasant.
- One of the main challenges of casting was finding a candidate for the role of John Coffey. Bruce Willis then advised the producers to pay attention to Michael Clarke Duncan, with whom the famous actor starred in “Armageddon.”
- Actor Doug Hutchison, who played Percy, was given the squeakiest boots he had ever seen and heard. Doug considered this circumstance a pleasant gift from fate – such squeaky shoes perfectly complemented the repulsive nature of his character.
- The initials of John Coffey (J. C.), as King himself wrote, correspond to the initials of Jesus Christ.
- Filming took place in the USA, in the states of North Carolina and Tennessee.
- The film featured thirty mice playing Mr. Jingles. All the mice were named after actors and crew members.
- At the time of filming, actor Doug Hutchison was 18 years older than his character (Percy Wetmore), and Sam Rockwell (Wild Bill Wharton) was 12 years older.
- In one episode of the film, you can see the name of the state where the prison is located – Louisiana – written on the prison truck. In another, when Paul enters the warden's office, you can notice a map of the state hanging on the wall.
- While the mouse crawls along the Green Mile, Percy Wetmore whistles the tune of the American folk song "Gallows Pole" while combing his hair.
- The scene where Delacroix reads the magazine Weird Tales is a reference to H.P. Lovecraft, whose creative heir and great admirer is Stephen King. It was in the 1930s that Lovecraft's most significant works were published in this magazine.
- The role of Paul Edgecomb was originally offered to John Travolta, but he declined the offer.
- Stephen King couldn't decide how the story would end for John Coffey – whether he would live or not – until he finished writing the book.
- Duncan was very embarrassed about having to grab Hanks by the groin when Coffey 'heals' Edgecomb's infection. To overcome Duncan's embarrassment, Hanks put an empty bottle in his pants.
- The film that Coffey watches before his execution and which, many years later, prompts Paul to tell Elaine his story, is the classic musical comedy "Top Hat" (1935).
- To create the appropriate mood in the film, all prison guards were dressed in uniform, although such a rule did not yet exist in prisons in 1935.
- In reality, the electric chair did not become a method of execution in the state of Louisiana until 1941. In the year indicated as the time of the film's action – 1935 (in the book – 1932) – convicted criminals were executed by hanging.
- Filming took place from July to December 1998.
- The film is based on Stephen King's novel "The Green Mile" (The Green Mile, 1996).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
