The Shawshank Redemption - appreciation thread

[Mesh]

It was on TV recently and I noticed lots of different kinds of "holes in walls."  Brooks sets his bird Jake free out a barred hole in the library wall.  Then there's the warden's safe, which is hidden behind a crochetted picture hanging on the wall.  Then there's.... well, I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Suffice it to say that Darabont was sharp on putting tons of visual and narrative "echoes" in his masterpiece film.

[Just Withnail]

Then there's.... well, I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who hasn't seen it.

No no! What ever you do, don't ruin it!

[Mesh]

Then there's.... well, I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who hasn't seen it.

No no! What ever you do, don't ruin it!

Serious or wiseass?

[Just Withnail]

Bit of both, but if wiseass means picking a fight for the next page, go with serious.

[Myxo]

I watch this at least once a year.

Popped it in about two weeks ago and I loved it all over again. This is one of the finest films of the 1990s and how Forest Gump beat out both this film as well as Pulp Fiction for the "Best Picture" nod is beyond me.

[Ravi]

I've only seen this film once because it is such a harrowing journey, but I will be picking up this new DVD if I have the money.

[Mesh]

Bit of both, but if wiseass means picking a fight for the next page, go with serious.

Don't be another of this board's "Mesh Overreactors."  You're above that.

[Just Withnail]

Thank you.

[Pubrick]

Don't thank him, you're above that.

[Just Withnail]

Thank you.

[MacGuffin]

Back in 1994, Frank Darabont rocketed into the public eye with his directorial debut The Shawshank Redemption. The movie didn’t burn up the box office but it garnered seven Academy Award nominations including one for Best Picture. It also cemented Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman firmly as powerful dramatic actors.

Darabont was already known in Hollywood as the go to guy for studio horror films having worked on the scripts for Nightmare On Elm Street 3, The Blob and The Fly II. But since Shawshank, Darabont has directed major Oscar contenders The Green Mile and The Majestic.

The reason for all this hubbub is that Warner Bros has released a Deluxe Limited Edition of The Shawshank Redemption on DVD. I got a chance to talk with Frank Darabont about Shawshank, his adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 and Stephen King.

Daniel Robert Epstein: Every film that you’ve directed has had to with prisons whether it’s an actual prison as in Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, amnesia as a prison in The Majestic and even being buried alive in the movie Buried Alive. What fascinates you about being trapped?

Frank Darabont: It’s not a conscious effort on my part. I guess it makes for good drama.

DRE: What did you feel when you were visiting prisons for Shawshank?

FB: They are truly unique and scary places. The prison where we shot Shawshank in Mansfield Ohio was one of the spookiest places you could imagine. Everyone had a real palpable sense of all those years of human misery that were soaked into the place. Very interesting and kind of disturbing. Aside from that I don’t know if I have a fascination. All I know is that I want to stay out of them.

DRE: How did Shawshank’s lack of theatrical success make you feel back in 1994?

FB: You always want to make sure the studio gets their money back but beyond that you can’t spend two years of your life on something you really care about then not have people show up. It was very disappointing but oh my god what a subsequent and unprecedented build the movie has had. It’s been rather astonishing and it’s been a tremendous sense of validation and a real pleasure.

DRE: What do you think of the short theatrical re-release?

FB: It’s fantastic. It’s something I was hoping I would be able to talk Warner Bros into. I knew the ten year anniversary was coming and the movie has a big following. It’s been my intention to do a special edition DVD for some years now so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity. I thought it would be great for people to see it the way it’s meant to be seen because many didn’t see it that way the first time. I think last year’s Scarface re-release to boost the DVD sales looked like a good thing to them. It was a pretty easy argument to make on my part.

DRE: One of my favorite character actors, Bob Gunton, played the Warden in Shawshank. He got a career playing villains out of Shawshank and he hadn’t played a villain before that.

FB: I don’t know what Bob had done before that. I know he had done a lot of theatre but when he came in to read for me I thought he was great. I get a big thrill out of casting and putting Bob in that role was not the obvious choice. I love casting that way when I can. It’s kind of like some of the cast of The Green Mile who were seen for the first time, guys like Doug Hutchison [Percy Wetmore]. I love giving guys like that screen time.

DRE: You had another amazing character actor in Shawshank, Bill Sadler. What did you see in him?

FB: Where I first noticed Bill was a horror piece, the pilot for Tales from the Crypt.

DRE: He’s amazing in that!

FB: He was astonishing and he just leapt right off the screen. I thought that I had to work with him and now I’ve had the pleasure of working with him twice now in Shawshank and Green Mile. I’m looking forward to working with him again. He’s just one of those guys that is so interesting to see onscreen. I love character actors. The really great ones give your movie a texture that is indispensable.

DRE: Since you’ve written many screenplays both before and after Shawshank, was your writing process on Shawshank any different because you knew you were going to direct it?

FB: No, the writing process is pretty much park your ass in the chair and stay there until you can’t see straight. Usually my writing days consist of eight to ten hours though I’ve done more when I’ve had a huge deadline. I will do a 12 hour day no problem. That’s why I can write a script like Shawshank in eight weeks.

DRE: Eight weeks is unbelievable!

FB: When you have great material from which to proceed and a desperate desire to see sunshine again, it’s really easy to put those days in. It’s kind of an all or nothing thing for me. The writing process does tend to be a fairly concentrated thing for me.

DRE: What made you decide to adapt Shawshank?

FB: Stephen King’s story is so strong and intriguing and I just found it so moving. I knew that if I could just capture for an audience what the story did for me then I might have something special. Happily enough that seems to be the case.

DRE: Would people that only knew you through your work be surprised that a movie with this tone came from someone who was primarily a horror person?

FB: Yeah that did get some attention. I remember some of the reviews when Shawshank first came out were like “Darabont whose previous credits include A Nightmare On Elm Street 3, The Blob and The Fly II suddenly comes out with this. Where the hell did it come from?” It was a really fun comment. Now of course I’m thought of as a very classy dramatic filmmaker and want I really want to do is a horror picture again.

DRE: Have you seen the cut of Shawshank that’s always on TBS?

FB: I watch it for a few minutes when I’m channel surfing but it kind of drives me crazy. It’s edited for commercials and it’s always edited for language so to me anything that isn’t at least a pay cable airing is sort of torture to sit through. It’s kind of like doing a painting then having someone come along and poke holes in it with a pitchfork. That’s one of the reasons I am so excited about the DVD because we’ve got a new picture and sound transfer that just rules. It’s really the way the fans of the movie should see. Whenever anyone comes up to me and says they saw the movie last night on TBS, I always cringe a little bit because they aren’t seeing it the best.

DRE: But at the same time the film wouldn’t be as popular without all those TBS airings.

FB: That’s the irony of course because TBS has done us an enormous favor by keeping it in rotation for years now. That’s where most people have picked up on it. It’s an interesting blessing and curse. It’s not the perfect way to see the movie but it’s been largely responsible for bringing it into the public’s consciousness.

DRE: What does your family think of Shawshank?

FB: I think my family thinks it’s kind of funny in a way because I was a weird lazy kid and I’ve turned into this intensely focused workaholic and they have no idea where it came from. But I know they are very proud of the work I have done and I know Shawshank is something they always hear about from people.

DRE: Was there anything that was found and put on the DVD that surprised you?

FB: I wasn’t surprised by any of it because it was a hands on situation for me. Warners was very receptive and followed my lead so everything on the DVD was chosen and designed by me even the cover art by Drew Struzan. He’s been working for 30 years and I believe he is one of the three finest movie poster painters who ever lived and the other two are dead now. I tracked him down by calling Spielberg’s office and asking them to give me the number. They gave me Drew’s number so I called him and told him I was huge fan and would he mind doing some new Shawshank art for me. He said that he loves the movie and invited me over. We worked out the concept and he did the design.

DRE: Is there nothing you can’t find when you have the number to Steven Spielberg’s office?

FB: Hmm, let me think about that [laughs]. Sometimes it’s hard finding Steven. I haven’t seen him since he was shooting Terminal. I think he’s going to be back in town soon and we’ll have lunch. I just adore him, talk about an inspiration, he’s been such a friend and mentor.

DRE: You’ve been talking about adapting the Stephen King short story The Mist for years. I love that story so is that next?

FB: I’m very carefully rereading it at this very moment because as soon as the dust settles on the re-release of Shawshank I’m settling back down and that’s what I’m adapting next. After ten years I’m finally going to do it.

DRE: The Mist is only about 100 page long story, how much do you feel you will have to expand it?

FB: I feel The Mist is such a contained and focused piece I don’t see too much expansion. There are a couple of little narrative dots I want to connect but for the most part it’s going to be very true to what Steve wrote. Why expand something if it doesn’t need it? It may be my first shot at making a movie well under two hours, take that critics.

DRE: What was the script that broke you into Hollywood in the early 80’s?

FB: The first script I got paid to write was Nightmare On Elm Street 3 which I wrote with [director] Chuck Russell who is still a good buddy of mine.

DRE: I found a list of movies you worked on that you didn’t receive credit for.

FB: What’s on there?

DRE: Eraser for Chuck Russell of course and The Fan [directed by Tony Scott] which I’m sorry about.

FB: Oh god! The credit or lack of credit for some movies never completely reflects what might have been done. For something like Saving Private Ryan I feel like I had a solid contribution to that and I’m very proud of that. For The Fan I swear to you Tony Scott kept one line of my dialogue.

DRE: Which line?

FB: The crassest one, which I thought was hilarious. At one point in the film the reporter [Ellen Barkin] says to the agent [John Leguizamo], “Are you telling me he refuses to grant me an interview?” and the agent says back to her “I’m saying he’d rather nail his penis to a burning building.” So from two drafts of work for Tony Scott that’s all that was left of me.

Is Minority Report something that’s still being classified as something I worked on?

DRE: I did not see it on the list.

FB: The truth is that I was offered the gig to write Minority Report by Steven [Spielberg] but I turned it down in order to direct The Majestic. So I did not write one word of that screenplay. But then the rumors circulated and I always thought that was unfair to the writers who had done the work.

DRE: I recently spoke with a big screenwriter named Zak Penn. I asked him if it’s a miracle every time a studio film comes out any good because there are so many hands in the pot on the big films.

FB: I think it’s always a miracle when a movie gets made at all. That it gets made well is like all the planets aligning. Even when you have the best of intentions with a singular vision there is something that can wind up not working. It just depends on any given film. Having multiple writers in and of itself is not a sign of doom. Witness Casablanca, it’s one of my top five of all time and that had a revolving door of people trying to get it work. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, although we do have a tendency in Hollywood to keep throwing writers at a project. I have seen scripts that I thought was terrific then by the time they threw more writers at it, it then winds up not being as terrific as it was. That opposite does happen too so that door swings both ways too, I’ve seen projects that really needed help and I myself have done that help on occasion.

DRE: I heard you are involved with The Thing remake for Sci-Fi Channel.

FB: It’s not a remake as much as it is a miniseries sequel to the great John Carpenter movie. It got reported in the trades as a remake but I would not want to remake a movie as good as John Carpenter’s. But to do a loving sequel as a miniseries really does appeal to me. Then you’re not screwing up somebody’s great movie.

DRE: Is it going to pick up right up at the end of the John Carpenter movie?

FB: I can’t absolutely vouch for that but that is my hope. We’ll see if the studio lets me get away with it [laughs]. That would be my ideal situation.

DRE: Do you have a director yet?

FB: No but we’re hashing out the story at the moment and we should have a screenplay done pretty soon. It’s by a terrific young writer named Dave Johnson.

DRE: Are novels in your future at all?

FB: It’s something I’d love to try my hand at someday. But schedule being what it is, I’ve had a really busy 18 years of a writing and directing career so I haven’t really been able to put my attention to it. I’ve got a couple of chapters of something I’ve written that I’d love to get back to but who knows when I will be able to.

DRE: I couldn’t imagine what its like for someone like you who is such a fan of science fiction and horror to get to hang out with Ray Bradbury all the time.

FD: That is one of the coolest things in my life. To get to know him while he is still with us is amazing. I really can’t overstate what an inspiration he has been to me. I’m one of those guys who was reading The Martian Chronicles in algebra class.

DRE: You mentioned you were a lazy kid. What else did you do?

FD: Devoured movies, devoured books and comic books. I was always one of those kids who loved storytelling more than anything. I managed to be an A student up until high school then I discovered theatre arts and I don’t think my other classes saw me for three years because I was always in the auditorium putting on plays.

DRE: Were you in the theatre arts for the plays or the girls?

FD: I was hopeless with the girls but looking back on it some of them were fabulous. I regret my ineptitude.

[Finn]

I love Frank Darabont being interviewed. He was great on the Shawshank Redemption dvd with the Charlie Rose show too.

[MacGuffin]

Jailbirds Stage 'Shawshank' Prison Break
Source: SKY News

Two prisoners in New Jersey have staged a daring escape apparently inspired by the film The Shawshank Redemption.

The pair, said to be armed and dangerous, are still on the run after digging holes in the walls of their cells and squeezing through.

As in The Shawshank Redemption, they used posters of bikini-clad girls to conceal the holes.

The pair, Jose Espinosa and Otis Blunt, left a note wishing the authorities "Happy Holidays" and thanking a guard they claimed had helped them.

Espinosa, 20, had pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter following a drive-by shooting and was facing a minimum of 17 years when he was due to be sentenced on January 25.

Blunt, 32, was being held on robbery charges.

Both were in the high security area of New Jersey's Union County Jail.

The pair used two improvised tools, including a thick metal wire, to remove cinderblocks from the wall in Espinosa's cell.

A 10lb steel water shut-off wheel was then used to crush the cinderblocks so that they could be hidden in the cells.

The criminals then put pillows under their sheets to make it look as if they were asleep.

They wiggled through the holes, jumped off a 30ft-high wall and then scaled a razor-wire fence before getting to rail tracks and making their escape.

It is thought that the break-out was planned fairly quickly as both men were only held for a few weeks. Prison authorities are investigating the claim that a warden helped with the escape.

In The Shawshank Redemption, a wrongly convicted prisoner played by Tim Robbins digs his way out of his cell, hiding the hole with posters of pin-ups like Raquel Welch.

[Stefen]

Shawshank = the new Scarface.