S Poddar
Thirty years ago, The Shawshank Redemption opened to surprisingly little fanfare. Although the film achieved legendary status over time, it was, in fact, a box office disappointment when it came out, even as it received less attention than other big 1994 releases. Today, it’s one of the best-loved films in the history of cinema. Set on a haunting journey by Frank Darabont and adapted from the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the film has had just as dramatic a flight from flopping to cult status as one within the tale.
In 1994, this work was still a little-known screenwriter, who had only had two major mentions to his name: writing A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and The Fly II. His adaptation of King’s novella, The Woman in the Room, had earned him credibility with the famous author, and it was how he managed to purchase the rights to Shawshank for just $5,000. In a beginning such as that, the script he wrote would have been nothing short of outstanding. “I never read a better script in my life, right from the jump,” remembered executive producer David Lester.
Interestingly, the producers cast Tom Cruise for the lead role of Andy Dufresne but gave it instead to Tim Robbins. Along with Morgan Freeman as Red, the two actors breathe life into an unlikely friendship that turns out to be the heartbeat and soul of the movie. “Neither of them did I see any flaws with,” Lester admits, emphasizing the way Robbins and Freeman made their dynamic so compelling and so profoundly human. Their evolving bond was very much at the heart of the emotional weight that the story brought into the scene with subtlety and authenticity.
The movie however, was not without its hard times. The Ohio State Reformatory, where much of the movie was filmed, was far from being just a visual setting-a character in its own right. Once an actual penitentiary closed, partially because of the inhumane conditions there, the prison sat with a presence that settled like a shadow over the production. “Worse than foreboding,” Lester explained. “The walls didn’t forget – they let that angst and karma leach out.” The emotional cost of filming in such an atmosphere was not lost to the cast and crew; many described the atmosphere as oppressive.
Andy’s final escape, through a sewer pipe has become an iconic moment of the film, symbolic for freedom and redemption. Perhaps the most cinematic shot is of Robbins, arms outstretched in a moment of triumph, standing in the rain. Cinematographer Roger Deakins has famously said his work on the scene was lit too brightly, but that has done little to dull this image’s status as one of the most recognizable in cinema history. Ironically, while the sewer pipe was spick and span, the creek Andy emerges into is poisonous, and dams had to be built to make the water safe enough to shoot.
While the film did eventually become a cultural phenomenon, the road it took in order to become so was in no way smooth. It opened merely a month ago on September 23, 1994; The Shawshank Redemption earned only $18 million at the box office; the budget was $25 million. Many attribute the odd, non-marketable name of this movie to its early plight. “Castle Rock wanted to put on a contest for anyone who worked at the company to come up with a better name for the movie – and nobody could,” Lester recalls.
Eventually, though, word-of-mouth spread, as did the film itself. Much of the new attention arrived via television reruns and personal recommendations. Freeman reminisced with an interview in 2004 looking back at its influence: “There isn’t a day when I’m not approached about that film – approached by people who say how important that film is to them.” For some, the movie has transcended life into something more of a well-used release of feelings of hope, friendship, and resiliency.
And yet, even the king himself was unsure at this point whether this novella could actually be structured into a film. Careful direction by Darabont and slick performances in the film proved him wrong of course. Even filmmaker Rob Reiner, who had worked for the king on other adaptations in the past, such as Stand by Me and Misery, was impressed by the script and offered Darabont $3 million to direct it himself. Darabont remained adamant, feeling that despite his relatively limited experience as a director, he should helm the project.
Perhaps the most memorable of these little, almost negligible scenes is a fantastic moment with Andy trying to negotiate cold beers for his fellow inmates while waiting on a roof. It’s one of the very simple things done but speaks to humanity at the heart of the film. These are men-many convicted of horrible crimes-returned, if only for a moment, to a semblance of normalcy and dignity. “It’s one of those little peeks at humanity,” one critic observed, “that makes them seem like ordinary men.”
The Shawshank Redemption is also chock-full of menacing antagonists from the sadistic Captain Byron Hadley, played by Clancy Brown, right on down to the corrupt warden Samuel Norton in a delicious performance by Bob Gunton. They display cruel brutality by clear contrast to the prison human beings are desperately attempting to reclaim their dignity, which might be classified as a heartbreaking irony: the supposed defenders of morality often prove to be the most morally bankrupt characters in the movie.
Ultimately, The Shawshank Redemption is a film about hope, perseverance, and the possibility of redemption for the individual soul. Although it did not win any of the seven Academy Awards it was nominated for, its impact has grown well beyond any statuette that could be bestowed upon it. As Andy Dufresne so memorably says, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” This feeling, much like the film itself, endures and lingers in the hearts of audiences all over the world.
