The Shawshank Redemption director, Frank Darabont, bought the rights to Stephen King’s Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption for $5000 in 1987. It was technically their second collaboration after Darabont adapted King’s The Woman in the Room into a short film. Interestingly, King did not see the vision of the director with the film, as the author felt that his 96-page novella was not a cinematic work like Carrie or The Shining.
However, King was proved wrong as Darabont created one of the most critically acclaimed movies ever. King did see his vision eventually as he assured the director of one scene in the climax that concerned him.
Stephen King Assured A Worried Director of One Scene From The Shawshank Redemption
Frank Darabont bought the rights to multiple Stephen King works at the time and intended to do The Mist first. However, he settled for The Shawshank Redemption as he had a particular vision of how to bring it to the screen. King gave the director his blessings for the film, but the author was skeptical about how Darabont would adapt the “textured and novelistic” work onto the screen.
During the 20th anniversary of the film’s release in 2014, King wrote a piece for Oscars.org where he mentioned how his impressions changed after seeing the film. When King finally saw what Darabont had created, he knew that it was not only the best adaptation of his work but also a “potential movie classic.”
King revealed that The Majestic director worked up to the time when the film was released and he fretted over even the minute details. King recalled that Darabont was upset about how Tim Robbin’s makeup looked too liquid during a major scene in the climax. He wanted to fix the scene, but King assured that people weren’t going to notice the makeup as they would be busy crying over the emotional climax. King wrote in his piece for Oscars.org:
“‘I hate Tim [Robbins’s] makeup,’ he fretted as we watched the last scene. ‘It looks too liquid, or something. I need to fix that.’ ‘Frank,’ I said, ‘People aren’t going to notice the makeup, because they’ll be crying.'”
King was right this time about the movie as people were largely impacted by the climax sequence of the movie. King further noted in his piece that the film was “an American icon” and that he was delighted to have been a part of it.
Why Did The Shawshank Redemption Work Despite Its Novelistic Structure?
Stephen King was not wrong in being skeptical about this cinematic adaptation of his work. Unlike Carrie or The Shining, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was a heavily narrative tale that was quiet and meditative. There were no ‘protagonists drenched in pig blood’ or ‘two terrifying little girls in the hallway’ to make it a dramatic tale.
However, Frank Darabont pulled the impossible with the help of strong performances from Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Freeman’s narration became a positive aspect of the film but the film’s visual storytelling also did most of the narrative work.
The film also managed to give us immense satisfaction with several sequences in the climax, be it the villainous prison warden and captain getting their comeuppance, Andy Dufresne enjoying his freedom in the rain, or Red and Andy finally meeting at the Zihuatanejo beach.
Interestingly, King was always happy with Darabont’s adaptations, also including The Mist and The Green Mile. While the director changed some elements of King’s story, the author did not have creative differences with Darabont as he did with Stanley Kubrick.
The Shawshank Redemption is now available for rent on AppleTV+.
