10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Shawshank Redemption

1 minute read
By Eliana Dockterman

It may have had a lackluster opening week at the box office, but 20 years after its release, The Shawshank Redemption tops many critics and movie buffs’ best-of lists. Here are 10 things you never knew about the production of the movie.

The Shawshank Redemption
The film is based on a Stephen King short story called "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption," which was published in the book Different Seasons. Other stories in that collection included the stories later made into the films Stand By Me and Apt Pupil.Columbia
The Shawshank Redemption
Director Frank Darabont bought the rights to the story from Stephen King for $1.Columbia
The Shawshank Redemption
The studio originally wanted to cast Tom Cruise as Andy Dufresne and Harrison Ford as Red.Columbia
The Shawshank Redemption
Morgan Freeman played catch for nine hours while shooting the scene in which Andy first comes to Red about the rock hammer. He didn't complain, but came to set the next day with his arm in a sling.Columbia
The Shawshank Redemption
Red's cell number is 237—the same number of the cursed hotel room in The Shining.Columbia
The Shawshank Redemption
Even though the end of the movie is set in 1965, Andy is driving a red 1969 Pontiac GTO in the final scenes.Columbia
The Shawshank Redemption
Morgan Freeman's son Alfonso (left) posed for Red's mugshot.Jeffrey Mayer—WireImage/Getty Images
The Shawshank Redemption
The muck in the sewer scene was made of chocolate syrup mixed with sawdust and water.Columbia
The Shawshank Redemption
Warden Norton offers Tommy Marlboro cigarettes with a surgeon general's warning on them, even though the surgeon general's warning didn’t appear until the 1970s.Columbia
The Shawshank Redemption
Morgan Freeman's audio was recorded before the movie. Director Frank Darabont would play it during takes for the actors.Columbia

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com