Mister Majestic

Test screenings are critical to Darabont, and The Majestic's first test was held in early October. The feedback compelled him to adjust the beginning (the complaint: Carrey wasn't getting to the small town quickly enough) and shorten a montage sequence detailing the restoration of the bijou--eight minutes of cuts in all. Darabont was also looking to see how the audience would swallow the film's sentimental tone--especially in light of the Sept. 11 attacks. ''It's a very odd situation as a filmmaker to have the tenor of a culture change so dramatically between having shot the film and releasing it,'' he says. ''There are things in this movie that I thought were a bit of a risk, in terms of the audience finding it quaint, unhip, corny even. Now all that's changed.''

Darabont cites a scene where the townspeople unveil a World War II monument and salute the flag as the ''Star Spangled Banner'' plays: ''When we filmed it, I thought, 'Gosh, are we going to get away with this with modern audiences?' But when we had our test screening, the audience was quite moved. So I think things are different--there's a perceptual difference with audiences right now.'' Yet he waves away talk that such a shift could help his box office. ''Who knows? And really: Who cares?'' he says. ''A movie is an incredibly trivial thing in comparison to recent events. I think one would have to be very self-absorbed not to recognize that.''

Darabont sounds equally clear-eyed about talk of a third consecutive Best Picture nomination. ''I probably felt more [Oscar pressure] on The Green Mile since it had been five years since Shawshank. But if you're worried about that, you're really worried about the wrong thing,'' says the filmmaker, who will next tackle a new adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. ''My best ambition for The Majestic right now is that it makes people feel a little better about America, about democracy, and what we're all about. If it can accomplish that, that would be just great: I will be very happy to have made it.''