Random Behind Scenes Of 'Shawshank Redemption,' And Making Of An Unlikely Classic (15 items)

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  (#4) The Original Ending Was More Ambiguous

  The Shawshank Redemption features plenty of heavy drama and heartbreak. Thankfully, for movie audiences who like stories to end well, Darabont's script concludes with two separate moments to cheer. Audiences first get to watch in pure delight as Andy outsmarts the prison system and escapes from Shawshank State Penitentiary. The second happy ending is watching Red and Andy reunite as free men on a sunny beach in Mexico. 

  Darabont almost didn't give spectators the satisfaction of seeing the two old friends meet in paradise. He initially wanted to conclude the 1994 drama the same way Stephen King ended his novella. Darabont revealed: 

  The original script ended with Red on the bus, uncertain but hopeful about the future; that's the way the [King] story ended. But [studio executives told me], "After two-plus hours of hell, you might owe them that reunion."
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  (#14) The Creek That Robbins Falls Into Turned Out To Be Toxic

  Andy Dufresne's daring nighttime escape entailed crawling through 500 yards of pipe and then falling headfirst into a creek. The memorable scene culminates with the now-free inmate ripping off his soggy shirt, triumphantly raising his arms above his head, and letting the rain wash away what turned out to be toxic muck.

  The creek that Robbins falls into was actually river water from a nearby farm. The actor said of the less than sanitary conditions, "It was pretty toxic. It was funny because when I was [in] the pipe itself, that was super taken care of and healthy. The prop dirt they use, it's sanitary actually. The muck I was traveling through was sanitary but when I got the freedom it was toxic. So, go figure."
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  (#12) Opening Night Was A Disaster

  Prior to The Shawshank Redemption opening in theaters on September 23, 1994, advance screenings and critical reviews were largely positive. However, there was that hefty 142-minute runtime, plus a negative Los Angeles Times review by Kenneth Turan calling the movie out for being too sentimental: "Its message of hope and friendship comes premixed with a sizable dollop of unappetizing violence, intended to convince audiences that what they're watching isn't a big glob of cotton candy after all."

  Producer Liz Glotzer and Darabont set out together to fulfill an old Hollywood rite of passage, visiting multiple Los Angeles theaters on opening night. The idea was for filmmakers to watch from the back of a hopefully crowded theater to bask in the glory of an audience's emotional journey. Glotzer was especially hopeful for sold-out venues after the producer said the film's test audience reviews were "the best screenings ever."

  Unfortunately, there wasn't much of an audience on Shawshank's opening night. Glotzer and Darabont went to a popular 900-seat theater on Sunset Boulevard. There was literally no one there. It got bad enough that they had to convince two girls to buy tickets to the movie under the condition they could get their money back if they weren't satisfied with the film.
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  (#11) Brad Pitt Was Originally Cast As Tommy

  In the early 1990s, Brad Pitt was still working his way from small screen roles like in Growing Pains to feature film parts. Shawshank producers cast the handsome actor to play Tommy Williams, the young inmate Andy takes under his wing and teaches to read. Tommy is later shot to death because he has information that could get Andy released from his prison sentence.

  Thelma & Louise was released in 1991. Pitt has a brief but memorable (and shirtless) role in the Geena Davis/Susan Sarandon buddy picture. Perhaps no actor has profited so much from such a small role. Pitt's turn as the young stud took him from relative obscurity to in-demand Hollywood leading man in the flash of a second.

  Following his overnight success, Pitt dropped the small role of Tommy and went on to legendary Hollywood stardom. Gil Bellows was cast to play in his place.
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  (#2) The Actors Actually Had To Tar The Rooftop Themselves

  Andy Dufresne works out a deal with a prison guard that he will help him save money on his tax inheritance if the guard will get beers for the inmates working on the roof of the prison license plate factory. To hear it from Red's voiceover narration (from the smooth delivery of Morgan Freeman), drinking cold beer on a hot roof may be the most incredible experience of his entire life:

  And that's how it came to pass, that on the second-to-last day of the job, the convict crew that tarred the plate factory roof in the spring of '49 wound up sitting in a row at ten o'clock in the morning, drinking icy cold Bohemia-style beer, courtesy of the hardest screw that ever walked a turn at Shawshank State Prison... The colossal pr*ck even managed to sound magnanimous. We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the Lords of all Creation. As for Andy, he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer...You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards, or maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me? I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while.

  For the actual cast and crew, that scene became a nightmare to film. Freeman described how laborious it turned out to be for the actors:

  The scene was shot over a hard, hard day. We were actually tarring that roof. And tar doesn't stay hot and viscous long. It tends to dry and harden, so you’re really working. For the different setups you had to keep doing it over and over and over and over and over.

  Darabont added that the scene was especially complicated and required multiple takes in order to match Freeman's narration. "Then I remember we got a nice take," Darabont said. "I turned around, and somebody behind me had tears rolling down their face, and I thought, okay, good, that one worked."
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  (#8) King Wasn’t Sure How A Movie Could Be Made From This Particular Story

  Frank Darabont received an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Shawshank Redemption. The Academy Award ultimately went to Eric Roth's script for Forrest Gump. However, Darabont's script is a textbook example of how to do everything right on the page, from character development to structure to pacing to dialogue.

  Stephen King may primarily be known as a novelist, but he has adapted his own work several times. King gave the go-ahead to Darabont to adapt his non-horror novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption despite believing the story could not be told cinematically. The novella predominantly features Red talking about Andy. Despite King's reservations, Darabont saw something different and successfully translated the story from page to screen.

  Even after King read Darabont's completed screenplay, he did not think it was going to get the green light:

  I thought, "Oh man, no chance they're going to make a movie out of this puppy. It's too talky. It's great, but it's too much talking."

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