The novella that The Shawshank Redemption was based upon was called Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Frank Darabonte made the choice to remove the “Rita Hayworth” part from the title early on during the production of the film because he didn’t want audiences to mistakenly think that it was a biopic on the life of the Golden Age starlet. As it stood, multiple actresses had shown up to audition for the part of Rita even though she wasn’t actually a character in the film! Rita’s inclusion in the title of the novella stems from the fact that main character Andy Dufresne used a poster of her to cover up a hole that he is chiseling away at in the wall of his prison cell.
In the film, the poster that Andy uses to cover the hole is changed from one of Rita Hayworth to one for the film One Million Years B.C. Another change that Frank Darabonte made while adapting Stephen King’s novella to the big screen was when it came to casting the character of Ellis Body Redding, or “Red” for short. In the Stephen King novella, the character of Red had been a red-haired Irishman. Despite this, Frank had always envisioned Morgan in the role. Stephen agreed with the casting choice.
There are many other interesting facts from the making of The Shawshank Redemption, including both the tale of the maggot that died of natural causes and that Stephen King ended up giving Frank Darabonte back the $1,000 that he had paid for rights. Join Facts Verse as this scene wasn’t edited, look closer at the Shawshank Redemption blooper.
An early directorial effort from The Walking Dead’s Frank Darabonte. 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption didn’t perform as expected upon release. But has slowly but surely risen in stature to become a modern classic. There are many cool facts about the movie that fans might not know. Including that it was based upon a novella by Stephen King. Not only that, but Stephen sold the rights to the novella for only $1,000! Join Facts Verse as this scene not edited, look closer at the Shawshank Redemption blooper.
A Different Kind of Stephen King Adaptation
Time of 1990s rolled around, there had already been many Hollywood adaptation of hit horror author Stephen King’s novels. From Salem’s Lot to Misery, it had proven that Stephen’s works translated well to the screen. However, Stephen wasn’t all too happy with a lot of these adaptations. When an up-and-coming filmmaker expressed interest in adapting one of Stephen’s rare non-horror works. And the author took a liking to him. The filmmaker was a young Frank Darabonte. And he assured Stephen that he intended to more accurately translate the author’s works to the screen than any filmmaker had done before. Because of this, Stephen sold Frank the rights he wanted for only $1,000.
The Stephen King property that Frank Darabonte so keen on adapting wasn’t a horror story like the kinds that had helped the author become a phenomenon. Instead, Frank expressed interest in adapting one of Stephen’s more slice-of-life works. Stephen had already seen one of his slice-of-life novellas brought to the big screen. It is during the 1980s with Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me. The novella that Frank was interesting in adapting was one by the name of Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.
Though the film ended up a nearly perfect adaptation of the source material, the “Rita Hayworth” part of the title dropped before it hit the screens. The reason for this was because Frank didn’t want people to think the film was a biopic telling the story of Rita Hayworth. As it stood, several actresses already showed up to audition for the part of Rita Hayworth while the film still being cast only disappointed.
Of course, there was no role of Rita Hayworth to cast in the film adaptation of Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. The Golden Age actress’s name in the title refers to a poster that main character Andy Dufresne. And uses to a cover up a hole that he is chiseling away at in his prison cell. This hole then provides the character’s climatic means of escape. Not only Rita Hayworth’s name dropped from the title of the film adaptation. But so was the whole concept of the actress’s poster. Instead, the poster that Andy uses in the film to cover up the hole that he is making in his cell is the iconic poster for the film One Million Years B.C.. And it which featured sex symbol Raquel Welch very scantily clad. Join Facts Verse as this scene not edited, look closer at the Shawshank Redemption blooper.
Small Changes Made from Novella to Film
The poster for One Million Years B.C. worked well in The Shawshank Redemption. Even if the inclusion of the poster can technically considered an anachronism. Bec given that the poster was a few months short of released at the time that the film supposedly takes place. Despite the fact that some minor changes made to his source material when it came to the adaptation. Stephen King very impressed with the film.
He so impressed, in fact, that he ended up returning the $1,000 that Frank Darabonte had paid him for the rights to his original novella. It turns out that Stephen had never actually cashed the check that Frank had given him. When Stephen saw the premiere of the film and immensely enjoyed it, he had the check framed.
The story of how The Shawshank Redemption came to be is interesting enough. But there are also plenty of fun behind-the-scenes anecdotes from over the course of the film’s production. The most ludicrous of these may very well be one involving a maggot and the American Human Society. As more Hollywood-savvy viewers already know, representatives from the American Human Society have to present during the filming of major Hollywood productions to ensure that no animals are harmed over the course of it. Ensuring that no animal cruelty went down on the set of The Shawshank Redemption wasn’t much of a problem. And as there aren’t a whole lot of animals in the picture. However, there was one scene involving a maggot that did raise an issue.
Those that know The Shawshank Redemption well will have no trouble recalling the scene where main character Andy finds a maggot in his prison food only for another prisoner to take the maggot and feed it to his pet crow. When it came time to film the scene, Frank Darabonte and the rest of the cast. And crew of the movie had assumed that they simply going to be able to feed the crow an actual, live maggot.
Of course, the phenomenon of birds eating live insects is something that happens all the time in nature. However, the representative of the American Humane Society that’s on the set of the film had a problem. According to him, feeding the live maggot to the crow would constitute unnecessary cruelty to said maggot. Because of this, Frank and his crew had go out of their way to sort through the maggots. And find one that had already passed away of natural causes before feeding it to the crow. Join Facts Verse as this scene not edited, look closer at the Shawshank Redemption blooper.
Frank Darabonte Inspired by GoodFellas
Besides the planned death of a poor maggot, there wasn’t a whole lot of darkness that went into the making of The Shawshank Redemption. Though the film, and the novella upon which it was based, is about a convicted murder. It actually stands as one of the more heartwarming tales from the mind of Stephen King. Even so, Frank Darabonte took directorial inspiration from a surprisingly sinister work during production of the film. The movie that Frank claimed to be most inspired by while he filming his first Stephen King adaptation wasn’t Rob Reiner’s Misery or Stand By Me. But was instead the Martin Scorsese film GoodFellas. Join Facts Verse as this scene not edited, look closer at the Shawshank Redemption blooper.
GoodFellas is a dark mob epic that had a major hit just a few years before The Shawshank Redemption went into production. Frank Darabonte not inspired by the dark or salacious elements of GoodFellas. But instead fascinated by the way that the film depicted the passage of time. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption a story that took place over the course of two decades in a prison. Frank paid particular attention to the way Martin had lead actor Ray Liotta do his voiceovers for the film. Of course, voiceovers would become an integral part of Frank’s own.
The person tasked with doing the voiceover work for The Shawshank Redemption Tim Robbins, who had cast in the lead role of Andy Dufresne. Frank Darabonte had originally eyed Tom Hanks for the role, but the actor was too busy filming Forrest Gump. Frank and Tom would get to work together on a subsequent adaptation of a Stephen King novel with The Green Mile. Tim proved a great choice for the character of Andy. Though the actor’s immense height of 6’ 5” meant that Frank had to take special care to make sure that the other actors he cast in the film were pretty tall, as well. Join Facts Verse as this scene not edited, look closer at the Shawshank Redemption blooper.
Morgan Freeman Had Never Done Voiceover Before
Besides Tim Robbins, the other main actor in The Shawshank Redemption is Morgan Freeman. Morgan plays the character of Ellis Body Redding in the film, or “Red” for short. In the Stephen King novella, the character of Red had been a red-haired Irishman. Despite this, Frank had always envisioned Morgan in the role. Stephen agreed with the casting choice, and the rest is history! If Morgan had turned the role down, other casting choices that Frank had considered for the part of Red included Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford. Morgan Freeman’s real-life son can also seen in the move, portraying a younger Red on his mugshot.
Frank Darabonte cast Morgan Freeman because of the actor’s deep and commanding voice. But The Shawshank Redemption was actually the first movie that the actor had ever recorded voiceover narration for. Apparently, Morgan recorded all of his narration in under an hour before Frank realized that there a hissing noise that made the audio footage unusable. The actor then had to go about recording the narration all over again. This second time, the recording process took a great deal longer. It said that it took three weeks in total for the narration to be how Frank had wanted. Join Facts Verse as this scene wasn’t edited, look closer at the Shawshank Redemption blooper.
Another element of the film that both took a surprisingly long amount of time. And involved Morgan Freeman the sequence in which the characters of Andy. And Red are talking to one another outside while throwing a baseball back and forth. Shockingly, this scene said to have taken nine hours to film.
These facts about The Shawshank Redemption will likely put the film in a different perspective next time you watch it! Did you know that The Shawshank Redemption was based upon a novella by Stephen King. And that the author let director Frank Darabonte adapt said novella essentially for free? Comment down below!
