Many now consider it to be a masterpiece of film. Its director, Darabont, spoke to the news in 2004 about the astonishing turn of events that had occurred.
This week marks the 30th anniversary of the release of The Shawshank Redemption, which seemed to have all the makings of a box office hit.
Given that it was based on a novella written by Stephen King, one of the best-selling authors in the world, it seemed certain to have a ready-made audience. In fact, a different tale from the same 1982 collection, Different Seasons, called The Body, was adapted into the wildly popular film Stand by Me in 1986.
Frank Darabont, a screenwriter and director, thought the narrative was so cinematic that he purchased the rights to adapt it himself in 1987. In 2004, during the BBC4 program The DVD Collection, Stephen King said to Stuart Maconie, “I found the story, Stephen King’s story, so compelling, really, and so touching that to me it was just natural as a movie.”
The book chronicled the tale of Andy Dufresne, a man convicted of killing his wife and her lover, and how he overcomes the extremely harsh conditions of Shawshank Penitentiary by means of his relationship with fellow prisoner Ellis “Red” Redding. And Darabont had discovered the ideal spot to replicate the ruthless, gothic jail. Ohio State Reformatory was operational when it opened in 1896.
