Trivia
- The role of Tommy Williams was intended for Brad Pitt.
- Frank Darabont wrote the script in eight weeks.
- Tom Hanks, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen were all considered for the part of Andy Dufresne. Hanks turned it down because he was committed to Forrest Gump. Costner liked the script a lot but was then embroiled in the filming of Waterworld.
- Andy and Red's opening chat in the prison yard - in which Red is pitching a baseball - took 9 hours to shoot. Morgan Freeman pitched that baseball for the entire 9 hours without a word of complaint. He showed up for work the next day with his arm in a sling.
- Director Frank Darabont decided not to have the deleted scenes on the DVD release of the film because he's embarrassed of them and doesn't want them to be able to be seen publicly