There's no sure-shot way up the mountain to Hollywood success. Actors take different paths to the top, and even those avenues change as time passes. While performers used to be locked into traditional studio structures, nowadays, someone can get famous on TikTok and end up in a movie that same year. 

So, it's interesting, then, to chart the course a star takes to a particular role. In the case of Thomas Jane, it may seem unlikely that the former Punisher star would go from comic book to literary horror adaptation in The Mist. But director Frank Darabont clearly saw something promising in Jane's earlier roles and decided he would be the perfect choice for David, the story's main character.

"He came to mind while I was writing, simply because I'd always loved his work," Darabont told SlashFilm. "He's got a very grounded quality on screen, even when playing that marvelously amped-up extreme character in Boogie Nights. A lesser actor would have gone over the top in a not believable way, but Tom kept it feeling real. Tom's got a great working-class everyman quality that I felt fit perfectly with Steve King's world, and with that character. And, boy, did Tom deliver. I loved his performance. The man is a tireless pro, a pleasure on the set, and he really nailed it.

While Jane's role as Frank Castle, Marvel Comics' Punisher, in the 2004 big-screen action revenge blockbuster wasn't mentioned in Darabont's interview, the source material may have aided in the director's decision. 

Jane explains:

"Somehow, probably through some dinner, I met Darabont, and we sort of bonded on our mutual love for classic comic book art, so we stayed in touch. I don't remember that we were actually actively working on looking for something to work on, but one day, a manila envelope was dropped off at my front door. It was a script for "The Mist" with a little note: "Check this out, let me know what you think."

"Of course, being a Stephen King fan, I read it right away. And the script was brilliant, in my mind, it was definitely up there with the best of Stephen King adaptations. So I guess that's how the project came to me. It was one of those rare occasions where something shows up on your front door that's actually, really special."

Interestingly, this wasn't the first time Thomas Jane was featured in a Stephen King adaptation. A few years earlier, Jane starred alongside Jason Lee and Timothy Olyphant in 2003's The Dreamcatcher.