Stories from the set

The film is based on Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, published in the collection Different Seasons (1982).

The filming took place at the Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio. The prison was in such a deplorable state that it had to be brought into proper shape.

According to the writer himself, Stephen King's original novella was the culmination of all his impressions from the various prison films he watched in childhood.

Stephen King agreed to sell the rights to his work for practically nothing, as he and Frank share a long-standing strong friendship. This happened after Frank had quite successfully adapted King's short story "The Woman in the Room."

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals criticized the film, in which the only representative of the fauna was old Brooks's crow. The film has a scene of feeding the bird a worm found during lunch in the main character's plate. The Society insisted that an already dead larva that had died a natural death be used. After such a specimen was found, the scene was shot.

The role of Tommy Williams was originally written for Brad Pitt.

The movie the prisoners watch is «Gilda».

Warden Norton whistles the hymn "Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott," the title of which translates roughly to "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."

The photos of a young Morgan Freeman on the documents are actually photos of his son Alfonso Freeman, who also appeared in one of the film's episodes.

Despite the fact that the film did not make much money in theaters, it became one of the highest-grossing releases on video, and subsequently on DVD.