Sep 23 1994 saw the limited release of what today is the number 1 movie on @IMDb.

We are going to do what we are good at - a thread of #FunFacts about Shawshank Redemption.

The prison was the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, which had closed. The same prison was also used in the films Air Force One and Tango and Cash, as well as the TV show House.

Dennis Baker, who had been the assistant to the warden of the Ohio State Reformatory in real life, has a cameo appearance in the scene where Tommy Williams is brought to Shawshank.

The number of people who walked away from playing Andy Dufrense is amazing - Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, James Gandolfini.

At least Tom Hanks was busy shooting for Forrest Gump.

The makers wanted to use a Mustang, keeping it in line with the time of 1965 - when Andy escapes, but they were unable to get the car in time. So they used a 1969 Pontiac car.

A glitch in the matrix as some people say.

Red’s cell number is 237 - the same as the room number in The Shining.

Though the origin of both stories is Stephen King, the number is not used in either books.

A representative from the ASPCA (anti-Animal cruelty guys) told the filmmakers they couldn’t use a live wax worm and only a worm that died of natural causes.

Director is said to have quoted "You'll do an autopsy now?"

They ended up with a wax worm made out of baby food.

If Frank Darabont had his way, this would have been the final shot of the movie with Red getting into a bus and heading towards Mexico and an ambiguous ending.

But Castle Rock executives asked him to conclude with Red and Andy meeting. Thank You Castle Rock!

This scene took over 9 hours to shoot with Morgan Freeman repeatedly throwing the ball and catching it.

The next day Morgan Freeman showed up on the set with his arm in a sling.

Andy Dufrense asks Red, why is he called Red - to which Red responds “Maybe its because I’m Irish.”

This is in response to the fact that in the original novella Red is a middle-aged Irishman.

Frank Darabont had envisaged only Morgan Freeman as Red.

Morgan Freeman’s son has a double role in the movie. He is seen in the scene when Andy Dufrense enters the prison for the first time and also as a mugshot of the young Red.

Interestingly, he has a blink and you miss cameo in Se7en that was released in 1995.

The film is based on “Rita Hayworth and the shawshank redemption.”

The name of Rita Hayworth was removed so that people wouldn’t think it was a biopic of Rita Hayworth. In fact Frank Darabont got many calls from actresses - if they could be considered to play Rita Hayworth.

In fact only two women speak in the movie:

one Karen type complains about Brooks's lack of grocery clerk skills

and the other woman helps Andy at a bank.

Frank Darabont has 2 cameos in the film.

Both scenes, only hands. I am sure someone would have joked on the sets -- "Look ma, only hands"

The character Andy Dufresne had a cameo appearance in ‘Apt Pupil’, another Stephen King novelette.

Andy handled the investments for Dussander, the Nazi in hiding.

This film was narrated by the voice of God Morgan Freeman.

Hard as it may be to believe, this is the first time he had done it.

They recorded the narration in 40 minutes, before shooting, to gauge the rhythm. Then had to re-recorded as a hiss could not be removed.

The novella uses Jayne Mansfield, Linda Ronstadt, Hazel Court and Rita Hayworth.

In the film just three feature: Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, and Racquel Welch as posters in the cell.

The white oak tree featured near the end of the movie has fallen down on Pleasant Valley Road near Malabar Farm (Nothing to do with Kerala) in Ohio due to strong winds.

It was released in Taiwan for some reason with the title 1995: Fantastic.
In Finland, the movie is titled Rita Hayworth—The Key To Escape.

Frank Darabont would watch Goodfellas every weekend as inspiration.

It was also a movie which had a narrator doing “Aap chronology samajhiye” and talking about incidents.

Given that Stephen King has an association with the horror genre, Columbia pictures decided not to include his name in any of the marketing of the film.

Clancy Brown played the prison guard Byron Hadley. During his research for the role, he realized that correctional officers were generally good. But he decided to go full retard and become extremely evil.

Stephen King liked the adaptation a lot. But his one criticism is that Andy’s tunnel was too cartoonishly round.

The most unforgettable visual in the entire movie is that of Tim Robbins raising his arms into the air and soaking in the pouring rain after escaping.

But it was a disaster to shoot and they only got it correct in their final attempt after which they would've given up.

This character was simply called “Fat Ass”.

Jon Favreau auditioned for this part and felt horrible to do so. This inspired him to start losing weight.

Red keeps applying for clemency with the Parole board and it keeps getting friendlier each time.

After 20 years: “SIT”
After 30 years: “Sit Down.”
After 40 years: “Please sit down”

The attention to detail in this movie is amazing - towards the end of the movie Andy’s eyebags are getting bigger and bigger indicating that he is spending more time in the night hammering away in his cell.

If you were keeping count - we had 26 facts to celebrate 26 years of the movie.

And no movie keeps reminding us of HOPE in these terrible times.

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