--- description: Although it went on to become one of Morgan Freeman's most celebrated films, "The Shawshank Redemption" was not an immediate hit. title: Morgan Freeman Reveals His Only Complaint About The 'Shawshank Redemption' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Morgan Freeman Reveals His Only Complaint About _The Shawshank Redemption_  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jun 8, 2016 5:55 PM CUT  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jun 8, 2016 5:55 PM CUT Although it went on to become a widely celebrated film, [_The Shawshank_ _Redemption_ ](http://time.com/3419291/shawshank-redemption-trivia-best-movie/ "undefined")was not an immediate hit upon its 1994 release. And on Tuesday’s episode of [_Late Night with Seth Meyers_](http://time.com/4230405/melisandre-seth-meyers-baby-shower/ "undefined"), [Morgan Freeman](http://time.com/4232933/morgan-freeman-gps-voice-waze/ "undefined") — who played Red in the 1994 drama — explained that he thinks he knows why. When asked by the host if he thought _Shawshank_ would be as popular as it is, the 79-year-old actor said he knew it was a special project after reading the script. “I read the script and it was so well done, such a good script,” he told Meyers. “And I said to my agent, ‘OK, I’ll do anything in here.'” However, Freeman also revealed that he believes the title of the movie was its biggest problem. “The original title was Stephen King’s book, _Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption_,” he said. “Now, don’t choose _Shawshank Redemption_ when you’ve got Rita Hayworth! But they said when I complained — and I did — that it won’t fit on the marquee. So what? Just put _Rita Hayworth…_ You’ve got the one-sheet there, it’ll say the rest of it! But they chose not to, and so it took a while to catch on.” Watch the full clip above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4361598/morgan-freeman-shawshank-redemption-late-night-seth-meyers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4361598/morgan-freeman-shawshank-redemption-late-night-seth-meyers/"},"headline":"Morgan Freeman Reveals His Only Complaint About The Shawshank Redemption","datePublished":"2016-06-08T17:55:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:08.799Z","description":"It has to do with Rita Hayworth","url":"https://time.com/4361598/morgan-freeman-shawshank-redemption-late-night-seth-meyers/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Seth Meyers","Late Night with Seth Meyers","TV","Morgan Freeman"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4361598/morgan-freeman-shawshank-redemption-late-night-seth-meyers/","name":"Morgan Freeman Reveals His Only Complaint About The Shawshank Redemption"}}]}] ```