After April Fool’s Day, roughly 10 days were spent on preparations before production began for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ at the Mansfield State Penitentiary in Ohio. The arrangements were done in such a short period partly because Laverne and the others worked efficiently, but mainly because Adrian made preparations in advance. For instance, he settled to shoot the prison scene in the Mansfield State Penitentiary and convinced Tim Robbins to play the lead role.
Among the other appointed casts, Morgan Freeman and James Whitmore agreed right away, whereas Bob Gunton considered for some time before he agreed. Needless to say, the fact that Adrian directed and produced two reputable films with high box office sales, as well as his ‘wizard director’ title, made things easier for him.
Nonetheless, Tim Robbins rejected the offer at the beginning, and his explanation was that the character was not suitable for him! Adrian who was drinking water when he heard the news almost spat it out because it was hilarious—of course, it was only funny to him—so he decided to pay Tim Robbins a visit.
“He helped those people feel wonderful things again, and he let those who were restricted by the system see a glimpse of hope. He’s painful, forbearing, stubborn, and… Perfect. I can’t think of anyone else, Tim, I can’t think of anyone else who will fit the role more than you will.” In Tim Robbins’ home that was located on Floss Street, Adrian spoke with rich feelings as he enjoyed the black tea made by Tim’s soul mate, the famous Susan Sarandon.
“There are many actors in Hollywood who are more outstanding than me, no?” Robbins seemed to be firm with his answer. Clearly, he was slightly moved at one point, thus Adrian did not know why he rejected the offer.
“Yes, I admit it. At the very start, I considered asking Tom Hanks to play the role, but I concluded that you’re still the best fit. I don’t know why Tim. I watched almost all of your performances, including ‘Howard the Duck’, ‘Cadillac Man’, and ‘The Player’ which just screened a few days ago. Honestly, none of the images are suitable, but my instinct still tells me that you’re the Andy who won’t give up,” Adrian said in an extremely serious tone, “I believe my instinct, which is why I didn’t ask that you to come for an audition.”
Subsequently, he turned to look at Susan Sarandon. “Isn’t that how it should be, Susan? Some birds can’t be locked up, because their feathers are too bright. When they fly away, you know that it’s a sin to trap them, so you’ll feel uplifted. Isn’t Tim a bird like that?”
Although Adrian did not know why Robbins rejected him, he knew that he needed to use a side approach if a direct approach was ineffective. As expected, Sarandon who saw the script began persuading Robbins, and the two of them debated softly at a corner for some time before Robbins accepted the offer.
Afterward, Adrian found out that Robbins rejected the offer in the first place mainly because he just finished the publicizing work for ‘The Player’. As such, he planned to spend time with Sarandon for a few days, but he no longer had an excuse since she suggested he take the job.
“Everyone, pay attention, this is the first scene for ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, and I hope that everyone can work together well, thank you,” Adrian said to the crowd loudly through a speaker as he stood on a lift.
The first scene was Andy being sent to prison. Adrian chose this scene to be the first because it was easier to control, and he hoped that the extras could use this time to practice.
While the exterior of the Mansfield State Penitentiary was well-maintained, such that many films were shot there, the interior was terrible. Renovations to the place would cost more than building a set in a film studio, so only outdoor scenes were shot there. However, most of the outdoor shots were big scenes, and they did not have enough extras at that moment, thus Adrian even contacted the penitentiary to have a number of their workers make a cameo. With the number of people, even the slightest problem would require them to retake shots.
“Get everyone ready, we’ll begin a test shot in 10 minutes,” Adrian contacted the people below through a walkie talkie. He was on the lift with the camera at that moment, and as he previously mentioned to Spielberg, he still lacked the ability to handle big scenes. If he could actually make a great shot this time, he would be a qualified director.
“Action!” Following the command, the shooting began. It was a wide scenic shot that overlooked the area, which started from the front of the penitentiary to around the field, then moved toward the mesh wire entrance before it stopped. It was a big test for the person behind the camera.
It was Adrian’s first time shooting from so high up, hence it was inevitable that he would be afraid. Nevertheless, his negative emotions vanished as soon as he held the camera and focused on shooting the scene.
‘Maybe deep down in my heart, I have a bit of idealism.’ Adrian laughed at himself after he got off the lift.
There was no problem with the scene—if the scene was messed up even when the preparations were completely done, no acting was needed, and only a few extras had to run around, the director and the producer could be considered useless—but numerous problems arose for the subsequent shots.
Since the setting was between the 40s to 50s, all tools used had to match the era. Outfits were not a problem, but transportation was an issue. Most of the vehicles used in that era could only be found in museums or had become personal collections, let alone the vehicle used to escort someone to prison. Thanks to the penitentiary, they managed to get a usable one before the shooting started, but it was too old, where it kept breaking down every ten feet.
Apart from that, there were many bloopers, a few people who kept getting their lines wrong, and some who even pushed the vertical mesh wire over as they were too excited. Luckily, nobody was injured.
Though Adrian expected those situations to happen, he could not help but feel frustrated, yet he had to hold it in to repeat the shots. That being said, it was comforting that Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, James Whitmore, and Bob Gunton were wonderful performers, especially Tim and Morgan who grasped their character’s traits easily. Thus, their shots were completed smoothly.
“Why am I in such a hurry? Because I don’t have much time. According to my plan, it’ll be best to finish both the outdoor scenes and indoor scenes in three weeks,” Adrian answered when he was questioned by Nathan White.
Nathan was the producer sent by Universal Pictures and was only in charge of reporting the financial expenditures of the crew to the company. Universal was rather hesitant about investing in the film at the start because they thought that Adrian was producing a film that was adapted from one of Stephen King’s horror novels, but they eventually concluded that it was worth the investment based on Adrian’s performance. However, they later realized that the novel was one of the novels from Stephen King’s medium-length collection that received the worst reviews, hence they were troubled.
It was a well-known fact that Stephen King was famous for his horror novels, but it was the exact reason he was often criticized by mainstream critics. While the author was not bothered, it was inevitable for him to feel angry after a long time, so he wrote a few medium-length novellas that were absolutely unrelated to ghosts and devils—other than the last novella that involved the supernatural—then combined them into a collection. Sadly, once the collection went on the market, the publisher told him to just focus on writing horror novels.
The remark came as a huge impact for Stephen King, who then stopped writing similar artistic novels. At the same time, he rarely talked about the collection, which was why Adrian was surprised that Laverne acquired the adaptation rights of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ so quickly.
Given the circumstances, it was hard for Adrian to convince Universal. After all, the novel collection’s sales were terrible, and he was still new. Had he produced ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’, and ‘Memento’ in two years instead, Universal would take the gamble without hesitation, but they did not know how the current film would turn out to be. Fortunately, Brandt who was asked to give them advice said something that gave them confidence.
“Think about it, gentlemen. When we wanted to get the scripts of ‘Scream’ and ‘American Pie’ from him, what was he doing?” Brandt asked them.
Precisely, how many directors in Hollywood were like Adrian? In the end, knowing that he was going to work with Spielberg, Universal invested 10 million dollars in the film, and they sent Nathan to report the expenditures to the company as a way to show their trust.
“You’re planning to finish this film in 6 weeks? But the schedule states that it’s estimated to go on for 2 months.” Nathan was clearly shocked. He initially approached Adrian upon seeing him grumbling.
“Plans are always done to prepare for the worst.” Adrian shrugged. “As long as everyone performs well without making simple mistakes, I can definitely finish shooting every scene in 6 weeks.”
“But…” Nathan was speechless. A total investment of over 20 million dollars was considered above-average in Hollywood, and in terms of shooting a film, the investment, its speed, and its quality were never directly proportional. He wondered, ‘Looks like Adrian’s used to shooting very quickly in the past, so he’s doing the same now, but…’
“With me, speed and quality are directly proportional.” Adrian who seemed to have read his mind smiled. “I know that you might not believe me now, but I’ll prove to you that I’m good at creating miracles!”
Following that, he walked toward the camera without looking back, then called out to everyone else, “Alright, fellas, break time’s over, let’s continue!”