Production
Frank Darabont acquired the film rights from Stephen King by impressing him with his film The Women in the Room. Darabont would later direct The Green Mile, another Stephen King prison movie.
The prison scenes were shot in the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. Downtown scenes were shot in Mansfield as well as in the neighboring town Ashland, Ohio. It was made on a budget of $25 million.
Rob Reiner, who had previously adapted another King novella, The Body, into the movie Stand by Me (1986), offered $2.5 million in an attempt to write and direct Shawshank. He planned to cast Tom Cruise in the part of Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. Darabont seriously considered and liked Reiner's vision, but he ultimately decided it was his "chance to do something really great" by directing the film himself.[3]
The prison scenes were shot in the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. Downtown scenes were shot in Mansfield as well as in the neighboring town Ashland, Ohio. It was made on a budget of $25 million.
Rob Reiner, who had previously adapted another King novella, The Body, into the movie Stand by Me (1986), offered $2.5 million in an attempt to write and direct Shawshank. He planned to cast Tom Cruise in the part of Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. Darabont seriously considered and liked Reiner's vision, but he ultimately decided it was his "chance to do something really great" by directing the film himself.[3]