Facts About “The Shawshank Redemption” You Probably Didn’t Know
Stephen King’s more well known for his horror writing, but he’s also written plenty of more dramatic tales. Many of them have received critical acclaim, both in written form and in their film adaptations. The Shawshank Redemption is no exception to this rule. It was originally titled Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, and was part of a collection with other stories, including Apt Pupil and The Body (this would later be adapted into the film Stand by Me). King had actually sold the film right to the movie’s director, Frank Darabont, for a mere $5,000. But he never cashed the check. Darabont and King were good friends. He even mailed the check back to him in a frame with the inscription, “In case you ever need bail money. Love, Steve”.
Before he had the chance to make the film, Frank Darabont was offered $2.5 million by Rob Reiner for the film right for Shawshank Even so, he turned the offer down. The movie likely would have been completely different had Reiner taken over the project. He wanted to cast Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise as Red and Andy. Darabont said that he felt this was his “chance to do something really great”.
Morgan Freeman’s eternally attached to the role of Red, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role. But Red wasn’t originally supposed to be a deep-voiced black man like Freeman. In King’s original version, Red was an Irish man with red hair. The studio considered other actors, like Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and, of course, Harrison Ford to play the character. But Freeman’s natural charisma and soulful voice won him the part. Darabont added the line from Red, “Maybe it’s because I’m Irish,” as a nod to the character’s original description.
Someone you may not have expected to have wanted to be in the movie was Charlie Sheen. He actually tried everything to get into the movie, even offering to be paid as little as possible. He even offered to do a 30-minute test reel to play Red. Unfortunately, Sheen was just took young to properly portray the characters.
Tim Robbins was Andy in most scenes of the movie, but someone else performed his close-up hand shots. They were director, Frank Darabont. He was pretty particular about the way he wanted Andy’s hands to behave, so he did it himself in post-production. When Andy’s loading his revolver in the opening scene, or carving his name into his cell wall, that’s all Darabont.
Clancy Brown portrayed the infamous Captain Hadley, head of the guards in Shawshank Prison. While prepping for the role, Brown was approached by several correctional officers to try to make his portrayal as realistic as possible. However, he didn’t want to distort the image of real correctional officers so he turned them all down. He knew he had to go all in on the evil aspects of the character. And that’s what helped make him such a memorable character.
One of the most famous characters from the book and movie, other than Red and Andy, was Brooks. He was taking care of a baby crow named Jake until he was strong enough to fly. And Jake has a great introduction scene when Andy finds a maggot in his food and gives it to Brooks after he had asked the newer inmate, “Are you gonna eat that?” Of course, they wanted to keep it in the film. But the American Humane Association stepped in. It was considered animal cruelty to the maggot for it to be fed to a crow. Eventually, the filmmakers found a maggot that had died of natural causes to feed to their crow.
At one point in the film, Andy visits Brooks and Jake the crow in the prison’s library. He talks to the crow, who keeps squawking. Tim Robbins actually had to time his lines so that the squawks wouldn’t interrupt him and ruin the take. Robbins eventually got this down to a science so that Jake wouldn’t ruin any of their takes with his squawking. If you look at Robbins carefully in the scene you can actually see that he’s waiting for Jake before speaking in some instances.
A lot of Stephen King novels are set in Maine, but this movie was filmed in Ohio. They filmed in 13 different locations, and they all became tourist destinations to Shawshank fans. 18,000 people have gone to Ohio since 1994 to visit these sites, earning the local economy around $3 million. You can also buy some Shawshank paraphernalia or food. At Ohio’s “Shawshank Trail”, you can get Reformatory “Red” Wines or Shawshank Bundt Cakes. And at Two Cousins’ Pizza, you can get a slice of “Redemption Pie”.
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