Darabont Explains Black And White Cut Of The Mist

The Mist comes out on DVD tomorrow and I couldn’t be more excited. I was really looking forward to seeing Frank Darabont’s adaptation of the Stephen King story and missed it in theaters (damn busy schedule), so I’ve been anxiously awaiting the DVD.

It turns out there’s more than one reason to pick up the DVD, even if you saw the movie in theaters. The two-disc edition of The Mist includes a black and white version of the movie. Now, most of you probably wonder why anyone would want to transform a modern picture that was released in color as a black and white movie. It turns out that Darabont had always envisioned The Mist as a black and white picture. Making that argument with a studio would be difficult, however, so he released the movie as it was seen in theaters. Thanks to the magic of DVD, Darabont can put out the version of the movie he wanted to, so the two disc edition includes the version seen in theaters and a black and white print of the movie, which Darabont considers to be closer to the director’s edition or director’s initial vision.

Here’s the introduction to the black and white version that will be on the DVD, where Darabont explains the rationale behind a non-color print: