The running time is 3 hrs. 9 mins..
First off, I'd forgotten about Sam Rockwell and Barry Pepper in the film. Neither of them were up to "that guy" status yet but you can see why they eventually made it there. Rockwell plays crazy like no other actor we've got going right now, I think he's destined for an Oscar role in the next five years. It's also Michael Clarke Duncan's best performance to date, there's simply never going to be a better role for him no matter how long his career stretches. It was the perfect storm of events for him, Hanks, a beloved film, an angelic role. It's also a sad film in that it may mean Frank Darabont isn't capable of doing anything else besides adapting Stephen King prison movies. He just comes off as a little strange throughout. I know that's an odd thing to say about the guy who has directed two of the best films of my generation, but the evidence points to the fact that the heavy lifting was done when King wrote the stories, not when Frank turned on the camera.
Okay, so let's get to the features. Disc one has, surprise, the movie itself. Well, the first part at least. It's a three hour epic and if you haven't seen it I'll advise again that you should go rent or buy it right this instant. Past that disc one is home to a Commentary by Frank Darabont. It's pretty annoying. He talks non-stop for three hours. Watch the film, don't listen to the commentary. Next up, The Deleted Scenes. Very slim pickings here as only two scenes are on the disc, a grand total of three minutes of deleted scenes. Why bother guys? Tom Hanks' Makeup Test is also on disc one, it chronicles the attempt to have Tom play his character fifty years later. There are two different screen tests, and in the second one he looks like a muppet. I just thank God they didn't make Hanks do the role. Aging actors with makeup rarely works. Next up a feature called The Teaser Trailer: A Case Study which details the story behind why Darabont put a hell of a lot of effort into putting together a trailer that he eventually scrapped. You can finally see the trailer here (if you were waiting for it) and you can pretty much see why he got rid of it. After that is the actual Theatrical Trailer and it's highly effective. Show this to your friends before you screen it. It will get them excited. That wraps up disc one nice and neat, essentially there is nothing here to see with the exception of the first part of the movie. Don't worry, disc two is better!
Disc two has the last part of the movie (which is nice) although I have to wonder why they didn't just move all the special features to disc two and put the entire movie on the first disc. It must not have fit, that's the only logical explanation. Moving on, one of the better features is Walking the Mile: The Making of the Green Mile. It's short at just under 30 minutes but it's also got all the main players talking about the four month shoot and it was clearly all filmed on set during the movie's production. If you just want a taste of behind the scenes you should catch this and then call it good. However, if you are the DVD type that must explore every crevice push the menu item Miracles and Mystery: Creating the Green Mile. There are plenty of features here to choose from. The first is a look at Stephen King. Other writers and literary critics chime in on who King is and where he stands among the greats. For me it was less than entertaining simply because I don't really care what his legacy is. I just enjoy his books. Next up is The Art of Adaptation. Here you'll get another chronicling of how Darabont didn't want to do The Green Mile and then he chose to, blah blah. Nothing too amazing here. Okay, now we finally get to some of the features I liked. The first must see one is called Acting on the Mile. It takes a look at the entire cast and how they worked together and so forth. It's typical in the sense that "they became a family" just like every other movie cast in history but what is atypical is how damn good this cast is. Darabont himself realizes his great fortune in having the group, and although we get to hear again that Bruce Willis suggested Clarke Duncan for the role of John Coffey we never do get to hear who the other two main candidates were. Ah well. The last feature I want to highlight is The Tail of Mr. Jingles. It's an oddly captivating look at the oodles of mice used in the shooting of The Green Mile, from breeding to training. I have no clue why I found mouse training interesting, but I did.
Overall you shouldn't need this review to make a decision. The Green Mile is the ideal stocking stuffer, and amazing movie, and with this two disc edition it's a great value too. Pick it up!