Did You Know?

The exteriors were filmed at the defunct Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. The prison was in such poor condition, renovations had to be made prior to filming. However, most of the interiors were shot on a sound stage, because they determined it would be cheaper to build duplicates of the interiors rather than renovating the interiors of Mansfield.

In Stephen King's original story, Red was written as a white Irishman. In the movie, they left the line, "Maybe it's 'cause I'm Irish", in as a joke, even after they had cast Morgan Freeman as Red.

Warden Norton whistles the hymn "Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott", the English title of which is "A Mighty Fortress is Our God".

On the wall in Andy Dufresne's cell is a picture of Albert Einstein. Tim Robbins, who portrayed Andy Dufresne also played in the fictional movie about Einstein, I.Q..

Heywood and Floyd are the names of two Shawshank inmates. Heywood Floyd was the main character in 2010.

Stephen King sold the rights to the movie very cheaply out of his friendship with Frank Darabont. They had originally become friends when Darabont adapted a short story of King's called "The Woman in the Room" (King has a policy stating that any aspiring filmmaker can adapt his short stories for a buck) and King was thoroughly impressed. They maintained a pen pal relationship and didn't actually meet until Darabont optioned Shawshank.

The prisoners are drinking Stroh's beer on the roof.

Voted #1 Must See Movie of all time by listeners of Capital FM in London.

An agent who apparently hadn't done much research requested an audition for his supermodel client for the role of Rita Hayworth.

Stephen King has said that his original novella was a culmination of all the memories he had from watching prison movies when he was a child.

The close up of Andy's hands loading the revolver in the opening scenes are actually the hands of Frank Darabont. Later in the film while Andy carves his name into his cell wall (seen twice in the film), Darabont's hands are used as well in the insert shot. These close ups were inserts that were filmed during post production, notably because Darabont felt that only he could do exactly what he wanted in the close ups.

The Shawshank prison, in the book and in the movie, was loosely based on Thomaston prison, an aging prison located in Thomaston, Maine. That real life prison closed in 2004 due to its small size and dilapidated structure.

Kevin Costner turned down the role of Andy Dufresne, a decision he strongly regretted later on.

In the scene where Andy arrives in the library as Brooks' assistant and Brooks' crow Jake is squawking, Tim Robbins had to time his line, "Hey, Jake. Where's Brooks?", so that the crow wouldn't squawk over his line, since the bird could not be trained to squawk on cue. Robbins was able to adapt to this and time his line perfectly from learning the bird's patterns in squawking, for which Director Frank Darabont praised him. Robbins's improvisation is noticeable, and we can see that when he walks into the room right up to the crow, he waits a short moment for it to squawk while looking at it, and then proceeds with his line after it does so.

The opera song that Andy Dufresne plays over the loud speakers is "Canzonetta sull'aria" from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro".

While Mansfield locals were eager to be extras, many weren't available during the day due to their jobs or were only available for one day, which obviously wouldn't work in a prison film. So extras were found at a halfway house, some of them real-life ex-cons.

Since filming schedule was very tight in Mansfield, Ohio anyone who held up production time were threatened to be fined. Both Tim Robbins and William Sadler showed up late once but were never fined. Filming in Mansfield, Ohio finished ahead of schedule.

Rob Reiner loved Frank Darabont's script so much that he offered $2.5 million for the rights to the script so he could direct it. Darabont seriously considered Reiner's offer but ultimately decided that it was his "chance to do something really great" by directing the movie himself. Reiner wanted Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise to play Red and Andy respectively.

Clancy Brown said that he received several offers from real-life corrections officers to work with him to make his portrayal of Captain Hadley more realistic. Brown turned them all down because Hadley was an evil character and he didn't want to misrepresent real corrections officers.

Voted #4 on Empire magazine's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008).

(May 14 - June 20, 2009) The world premiere theatrical adaptation of the film was staged at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre featuring, Kevin Anderson (Andy), Reg E. Cathey ("Red") and Keir Dullea (Brooks). Adapted by Owen O'Neill and Dave Johns, the play was directed by Peter Sheridan.

Tom Hanks, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen were all considered for the part of Andy Dufresne. Hanks turned it down because he was committed to Forrest Gump. Costner liked the script a lot but was then embroiled in the filming of Waterworld.

James Whitmore was cast in the part of Brooks because he was one of Frank Darabont's favorite character actors.

In 2007, two inmates of Union County Prison escaped from their prison using similar techniques to those featured in the movie. Their (partially) successful escape led to the suicide of prison guard Rudolph Zurick. When the two convicts were recaptured, they denied responsibility for Zurick's death.

Initially, Frank Darabont was planning to make his directorial debut with a 'Child's Play' type of horror movie, although he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the prospect of doing so. Instead, he decided to adapt Stephen King's atypical short story. The resulting script soon became a hot ticket around Hollywood, attracting interest from stars like Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise.

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.

The most rented video of 1995.

Beer bottles didn't have screw tops in 1949.

One of the reasons why they didn't employ the full title of the Stephen King novella - "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" - was because there was a perception in Hollywood that this was actually going to be a biopic of Rita Hayworth. Indeed, Frank Darabont even received solicitations from several actresses about playing the lead.

Unusually the voiceover narration was recorded before filming began and was then played on set to dictate the rhythm of each scene. The guide track was recorded in an Iowa recording studio by Morgan Freeman in only 40 minutes. Unfortunately, there was a minor hiss to the track which sound engineers in Los Angeles were unable to eradicate. Consequently it had to be re-recorded in a proper studio; this time it took 3 weeks.

The ambulance that took Boggs away had to be pushed as its engine had died.

Raquel Welch - whose poster plays a significant role in the film - is a big fan of the finished movie.

Shawshank prison is a staple of Stephen King's writing, most of which is set in Maine. While it only appears in this story, several other books and short stories mention characters who were sentenced to serve time at Shawshank.

Morgan Freeman's favorite film of his own.

The original story, 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption', appears in Stephen King's book, 'Different Seasons', along with three other short novellas. Only one of them, 'The Breathing Method', has not been turned into a movie.

Although it is never directly stated in the film, allegedly Brooks is in prison for murdering his wife and daughter after a losing streak at poker.

The Norwegian title for the movie is "Frihetens Regn", which means "The Rain of Freedom".

In the scene after Andy has escaped, the warden wants them to question Red. When they call to open Red's cell they shout, "Open 237!" This is the same number as the room in The Shining and the amount of change ($2.37) the four boys in Stand by Me collect between them. All three movies were based on Stephen King stories

Zihuatanejo, the Mexican paradise where Andy and Red go after prison, actually exists. It is now a tourist city in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. But in 1966, when Andy escaped, it was still a small fishing village which matches how Andy first described it to Red.

When Warden Norton opens his wall safe near the end of the film, and he opens Andy's bible, the bookmark ribbon is on the first page of the book of Exodus (which tells the story of the flight of the Jews from Egypt). Exodus is also where Andy began cutting out the pages to hide his rock hammer during spot inspections.

The rock wall where Red's "treasure" is buried was built specifically for the film and is still standing today. It was built by hand by the art department and months beforehand too. This allowed for the alfalfa grass to grow to make it look weathered.

For the sewage tunnel sequence, Tim Robbins initially refused to immerse himself in the muddy water at the end of the pipe after a chemist tested the water and dubbed it lethal.

The headline on Norton's newspaper after Andy's escape reads: "CORRUPTION, MURDER AT SHAWSHANK! D.A. Has Ledger. Indictments Sought."

When the warden flips through Andy's bible after his escape, he finds Andy's digging tool hidden in Exodus. Exodus literally means "to escape or depart".