✎ Editor’s notes on 14 facts

FILM · 1994 · USA

The Shawshank Redemption

Directed by: Frank Darabont
Runtime: 142 min
Studio: Castle Rock Entertainment

14 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

14 Interesting Facts About The Shawshank Redemption

Name: The Shawshank Redemption
Released: 1994

Production Story (4)

#001
The Shawshank Redemption first received a limited release in North America on September 23, 1994 to just 33 theaters. It received a wide release to approximately 910 additional theaters on the same date that Pulp Fiction (1994) opened, on October 14, 1994. Both movies were nominated for 7 Academy awards each, both movies gained cult status in following years and both are listed within the top 10 in IMDb's top 250 movies. (As of July 2017)
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Pulp Fiction is a cult classic, The Shawshank Redemption is a nice film. The reason this film sits at number one on IMDb is that it doesn't require mental effort to understand. In The Godfather, for instance, you put your mind to work, you look for meaning, you look at the subtext. Pulp Fiction is hard to digest at first glance. But this film is easy to consume. I mean, on TV it's not the peak of weight and realism like The Wire. And because it's easy to consume, people understand it easily, and so it got a higher score.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins in the Shawshank yardImage: IMDb
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#002
On the strength of the film's mostly excellent reviews and positive test screenings, the movie was expected to do well. However, on opening night, director Frank Darabont and Castle Rock producer Liz Glotzer went to a few theaters to gauge audience reactions to the film, and noted that LA's Cinerama Dome, a theater with more than 900 seats, was as good as empty. Glotzer blamed it on LA critic Kenneth Turan, who had written one of the movie's few bad reviews, in which he had objected to the movie's "sentimentality," likening the picture to "a big glob of cotton candy." The desperate filmmakers cornered two girls outside and sold them tickets on the premise that if they didn't like the film, Castle Rock would refund them on Monday. "That was our big opening night," said Glotzer.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Kennet Turan is right in his criticism. He's not right about the sentimentality part, he's right about the "big pile of cotton candy" part. The film practically hands out cotton candy to everyone. I mean, it's an easy film to digest, an easy film to understand. There's nothing difficult about it. If there had been moments that made the audience think, my rating for the film might have been higher.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Frank Darabont on set with the actorsImage: IMDb
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#003
Stephen King's novella shares several plot points with a nine-page short story written by Lev Tolstoy called "God Sees the Truth, But Waits." Both are about men sent to prison for murders they didn't commit.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Putting Stephen King on the same level as a writer like Tolstoy is very wrong. Stephen King is the industrialized writer of literature. Tolstoy, on the other hand, is a real novelist. It's very hard to find a plot hole in Tolstoy's books. The fact that there's a similarity here doesn't mean the two should be mentioned together.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Prison corridor and barsImage: Wikimedia Commons · Marianodemiguel, CC BY-SA 4.0
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#004
While he was writing the screenplay, Frank Darabont was getting into opera. When he felt "trapped" in the writing process, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" would lift his spirits. It later inspired him to use this piece of music in the film, creating the moment where Andy plays it over the speakers for the other inmates, a scene that wasn't in Stephen King's source novel.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Wonderful, wonderful. The scene where the music plays over the loudspeaker was beautiful. And the fact that it matters to Darabont and that he plays it at an important moment is, in itself, a success or a satisfaction.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Andy with arms outstretched in the rainImage: IMDb
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Behind the Scenes (3)

#005
The American Humane Society monitored the filming of scenes involving Brooks' crow. During the scene where he fed it a maggot, the AHS objected on the grounds that it was cruel to the maggot and required that they use a maggot that had died from natural causes. One was found, and the scene was filmed. Years later, Frank Darabont admitted that he had killed the maggot himself.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Frank Darabont is an interesting director. He directed this film too. Making a confession like this years later is, in its own way, a confession of something. Darabont also made important contributions to the first season of The Walking Dead, the first series I ever watched, and left the team after the first season. The best season of the series is the first one. This man knows what he's doing. As for The Shawshank Redemption, in my opinion it doesn't deserve first place on the IMDb Top 250, because there's the reality of The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II.
In the end, killing the worm was maybe out of helplessness. How could you find a dead worm? I should also say that I, who wouldn't even hurt or kill an ant, wouldn't allow a living creature to be eaten alive either. Darabont is a good director, but sometimes certain things come out at times like these. Darabont passed the test throughout the film, but when it comes to what we call humanity and being alive, he failed the class for not having an adequate level of mercy.
You might say, it's just a film, it's just a worm, and a harmful one at that, and a tiny one. Why? Just because you can't bond with the worm, you feed it to something, while because you can bond with the cat and the dog, you won't stand for them being killed. Both are alive; one is too small to bond with, its consciousness barely there, the other is bigger, you can bond with it, its consciousness a bit clearer.
And yet... both are alive.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Darabont and Freeman on setImage: IMDb
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#006
In the scene where Boggs is hauled away in an ambulance, the vintage car that was utilised actually broke down, and had to be pushed by the film crew, (along with director Frank Darabont), in order to complete the shot, but they had to stop themselves early, so as not to appear in the camera.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
It's clear from this that it was a film made under somewhat difficult conditions and on a low budget. Even the director pushing a vehicle that won't start with his own hands shows just how limited the conditions were. Even Frank Darabont, who put the most effort into making this beautiful film, put his shoulder to the wheel.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Frank Darabont and Morgan Freeman on setImage: IMDb
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#007
Andy and Red's opening chat in the prison yard, in which Red is throwing a baseball, took nine hours to shoot because director Frank Darabont insisted on many takes of the scene before he was satisfied. Morgan Freeman threw the baseball for the entire nine hours without a word of complaint. He showed up for work the next day with his left arm in a sling.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Funny. Now here's an interesting fact. 9 hours of shooting, Morgan Freeman not saying a single word, and him showing up the next day with his left arm in a sling. Funny.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins with a baseball glove in the yardImage: IMDb
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Characters & Cast (1)

#008
In a complete reversal of their characters, both Bob Gunton and Clancy Brown, who play the sadistic Warden Norton and Captain Hadley respectively, were very well liked and got along very well with their fellow cast members off-screen.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
I'd like to say two things on this. In Turkish cinema, Kemal Sunal was a serious man, the opposite of the roles he played. Erol Taş was a compassionate man, the opposite of the roles he played. Yadigar Ejder, despite the fat, huge height and bulk of the roles he played, was poor and froze to death on a bench.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Clancy Brown and Bob Gunton togetherImage: IMDb
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Easter Eggs & References (4)

#009
Red, narrating, refers to the "two Italian ladies" who sing the Mozart duet from "The Marriage of Figaro." Actually, although the opera is written in Italian, neither the singers nor their characters are Italian. The two characters are Spanish (the opera occurs at a nobleman's estate near Seville), and the singers are Gundula Janowitz, who is Austrian, and Edith Mathis, who is Swiss.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
It's about the film positioning things differently. Maybe he said it because of Italian's weight in the music world. In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, Italy was one of the peaks of European music. There were many Italian musicians and singers. Maybe they made a change in light of that, since there's always been a tendency in the art world to show certain things differently from how they were. Sometimes it even goes as far as manipulating the audience. Here, though, the "two Italian ladies" are just two Italian ladies, maybe, rather than a comment on the original music.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Red and Andy in the yardImage: IMDb
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#010
"MOTHER" is carved on the wall above the big posters. Tim Robbins played Larry "Mother" Tucker in Fraternity Vacation (1985).
Editor’s noteArka Evren
There are some films where references don't suit them. But the film crew probably didn't know the film would turn into this kind of film. Because references don't belong in this film. There are some works where everything has to stay inside that world. Breaking Bad is like that, for example. The work has to be isolated from everything. Because when you watch it from beginning to end, you understand that an outside intervention doesn't suit it.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Tim Robbins in the prison yardImage: IMDb
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#011
On the wall in Andy Dufresne's cell is a picture of Albert Einstein. Tim Robbins, who portrayed Andy Dufresne, also starred in the fictional movie about Einstein, I.Q. (1994).
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Can I say something? Tim Robbins was maybe the most right lead actor possible for this film. He was one of the best actors who could play Andy Dufresne. Because his face has neither a full smile nor a pained gaze. He's a man who was wrongly imprisoned as a banker.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Tim Robbins at the cell wallImage: IMDb
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#012
Both William Sadler (Heywood) and Jeffrey DeMunn (1946 D.A.) appeared in The Green Mile (1999).
Editor’s noteArka Evren
Quite apart from The Shawshank Redemption, I have to say I never liked The Green Mile at all. It had the air of a Yeşilçam melodrama. The scene with unlimited electric shocks without killing a man made me uncomfortable. You can't be that amateurish.
I have to say that Stephen King's novels adapted to cinema are nothing but a show. No one can write as many books as he does. The way his films are adapted carries a similar atmosphere. For example, I didn't like The Shining either, a film by a director like Stanley Kubrick. Though to be fair, I haven't liked any Kubrick film except Full Metal Jacket. But Stephen King, and his films too, are of a similar style and not high quality.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): William Sadler and Brian Libby in the prison yardImage: IMDb
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Deeper Meaning (1)

#013
Many critics have spotted many allegorical themes in the film, generally along the lines that Andy Dufresne is a latter-day Jesus Christ. Frank Darabont refutes all such claims, although he is delighted that so many people have read so much into his film.
Editor’s noteArka Evren
A director is happy when theories are put forward about his own film. He's happy about the meaning loaded onto it, about people talking about it, about it never leaving the billboards. For example, someone told me about a short film I shot in January 2026 that, as the film was ending, they wanted a voice from behind saying "Is that you?" If it had been like that, they said, a part 2 would have come too. The short film was "A Short Film About Overthinking."
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Shawshank Prison CorridorImage: Wikimedia Commons · Marianodemiguel, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Career & Awards (1)

#014
This was DP Sir Roger Deakins' first Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. It would be 23 years and 12 nominations later that he finally won the coveted statuette, for Blade Runner 2049 (2017).
Editor’s noteArka Evren
The Oscar isn't really an awards ceremony where the truly deserving get what they deserve. After exactly 12 nominations, you win this award with an average film like Blade Runner 2049. I'm sure the films he was nominated for in the past were better, and though I'm not sure, he himself has done better work.
But if this man deserves this award with this film, that shows cinema as an art form has taken a hit. Winning this award with a film of such low standards means showing that there are people who no longer practice this art at the quality it deserves.
Here's what I think:
The Oscar is political, and so is the Nobel.
sufferwithme / Founder / Editor
The Shawshank Redemption (1994): Frank Darabont and Roger Deakins on setImage: IMDb
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Gilda — The Shawshank Redemption comes up in the facts on that page
Jacob's Ladder — The Shawshank Redemption comes up in the facts on that page
It — The Shawshank Redemption comes up in the facts on that page

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