Is ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ based on a true story?
Quite possibly the greatest movie to ever flop at the box office, it beggars belief that audiences had next to no interest in watching The Shawshank Redemption when it was first released in cinemas.
Despite scoring enthusiastic responses from test screenings, the ticket-buying public was overwhelmingly apathetic towards Frank Darabont’s first Stephen King adaptation. In fact, it wasn’t until after the film received awards season recognition that it even managed to elevate itself from a disastrous bomb into a minor one.
During its initial run in multiplexes, The Shawshank Redemption fell drastically short of recouping its $25 million production budget. After ten weeks, it had only earned $16 million from the big screen, but following a re-release in the wake of seven Academy Award nominations, including ‘Best Picture’, it was saved from complete commercial embarrassment.
Of course, plenty of movies destined to be remembered as classics have failed at first before gradually being reappraised as masterpieces, but the difference with The Shawshank Redemption was that it was never underrated, overlooked, or misunderstood: it was immediately heralded as one of the best features of 1994, only to generate a woeful lack of interest among the average punter.
Still, history has been exceedingly kind to one of cinema’s most beloved and uplifting titles, but was it based on a true story? There have been plenty of prison breaks all over the world, lifelong friendships forged behind bars, and tales of wrongly convicted people being imprisoned for crimes they haven’t committed, so it was never exactly a far-fetched flight of fancy.
The short answer is that, no, The Shawshank Redemption originally came from Stephen King’s mind, although Frank Freshwaters might disagree. In 1957, he pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and received a suspended sentence, only to violate his probation and be sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
Like Tim Robbins’ Andy Dufresne, Freshwaters won over the prison guards with his demeanour to cultivate a sense of trust, which he exploited and violated by escaping to freedom. He didn’t crawl through a quarter-mile of shit only to come out clean on the other side, but there are definite similarities between his story and The Shawshank Redemption. Still, it remains a work of fiction.
Where was The Shawshank Redemption filmed?
Large parts of The Shawshank Redemption were filmed at a real prison, adding an extra layer of authenticity to the proceedings. Ohio State Reformatory opened its doors in 1910 and remained in operation for 80 years, making the recently closed facility the ideal place for Darabont and his crew to pitch up.
Thanks largely to the film’s success, the former prison has remained open as a tourist attraction, although The Shawshank Redemption was far from the only production to call it home. Tango & Cash and Air Force One also used the building for exteriors, while music videos for artists like Lil Wayne and Attack Attack! have also made use of the grounds.
And who wrote The Shawshank Redemption?
King’s Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was first published in 1982, and when Hollywood scooped it up as prime fodder for an adaptation, Darabont didn’t feel the need to make sweeping changes to the source material.
While some alterations were made, it’s hard to say they weren’t for the better. After all, common sense would dictate that more people have seen The Shawshank Redemption than read Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, with Darabont handling screenwriting duties himself.
