Half-Assed Internet Research
Research covers the Ohio prison, Stephen King's rights check, the tense shoot, prison and money details, Morgan Freeman's son, the sewage prop, Alan Green, the ending, the oak tree, visitors, deleted scenes, and prerecorded narration.
In the discussion (20)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:07Read transcript
- The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield supplied the prison location and later became a visitor destination.
- Stephen King never cashed Darabont's five-thousand-dollar rights check and returned it framed with a bail-money joke.
- The shoot was unusually tense because Darabont demanded long days and many takes, leading Freeman to recall repeated conflict.
- The research says he threw out his arm and showed up with the sling after many takes.
- Andy Dufresne's stated prison number is 37927.
- Andy takes $375,000 from the warden, described as roughly $3.7 million in 2019 dollars.
- An initial claim that only the grocery customer and bank clerk are women with speaking roles is challenged by recollection of a woman on the parole board.
- The young Red mug shot and a fresh-fish prisoner are played by Morgan Freeman's son Alfonso.
- The beach was filmed on St. Croix rather than at the story's Mexican destination.
- The sewage mixture used water, chocolate syrup, and sawdust rather than actual waste.
- The film is dedicated to Darabont's agent Alan Green, who died of AIDS during production.
- Film producer Liz Glotzer insisted on showing the reunion; Darabont resisted it as too commercial and sentimental before the filmed version won approval.
- The Buxton oak was damaged by lightning in 2011, fell in 2016, and was turned into memorabilia after removal.
- The prison drew eighteen thousand visitors in 2013 and more than three million dollars into the local economy.
- One deleted scene has the prisoners find Jake dead and bury Brooks's bird.
- Another deleted scene has Tommy's wife visit and motivate his GED effort.
- A deleted escape aftermath sends a guard through the tunnel, where the sewage smell makes him vomit as Red laughs from his cell.
- Deleted post-release material shows Red having a panic attack at the grocery store.
- Freeman recorded the narration before filming, and it was played during scenes on set.
- Test audiences were reportedly restless during deleted post-release scenes featuring Red.