“It took a while to catch on”: Morgan Freeman Hated 1 Thing About The Shawshank Redemption That Tim Robbins Felt Made the Movie a Box-Office Flop
Morgan Freeman is undoubtedly one of the most acclaimed actors in Hollywood. In his career spanning over five decades, he has appeared in movies of several different genres. Thanks to his distinctive voice, he is also known for narrating numerous documentaries, the most recent of these being 2023’s Life on Our Planet.
Saying that Freeman has done it all when it comes to movies would not be an overstatement. However, the project that probably stands out the most in his filmography is The Shawshank Redemption. Surprisingly, when the film was first released, its box office collection was nothing short of a disappointment. Although it has gained more acclaim over the years, there is one thing that the Gone Baby Gone actor does not like.
Morgan Freeman Hates This One Thing About The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption was Frank Darabont’s directorial feature film debut. The movie stars Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins in the lead roles of Ellis ‘Red’ Redding and Andy Dufresne, respectively. Darabont adapted the screenplay from Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.
Andy, a banker who is sentenced to life after being wrongly convicted of having murdered his wife and her lover, befriends fellow prisoner Red, who used to be a contraband smuggler. They are imprisoned in Shawshank State Penitentiary, and Andy becomes an instrument in a money laundering operation led by the prison’s warden.
In an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Freeman revealed the one thing he resents about the sleeper hit. He said:
“The original title came from Stephen King’s book, ‘Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption’ Now, don’t choose Shawshank Redemption when you’ve got Rita Hayworth! I complained but they said ‘It won’t fit on the marquee’. I said, ‘So what? Just put Rita Hayworth’. But they chose not to, so it took a while to catch on.”
Naming the movie after the first part of the book’s title would have been absurd so it seems fair that they chose to go with this title. However, since Freeman stars in the movie, he probably knows better.
Tim Robbins Shared His Thoughts on the Movie’s Title
The Shawshank Redemption earned only $16 million during its initial theatrical run, but after receiving seven Academy Award nominations, the movie’s gross earnings increased to $73.3 million post its second theatrical run. Almost three decades later, the film still holds the top spot on IMDB’s user list.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tim Robbins discussed how the title was thought to be one of the reasons it took time for the movie to catch the audience’s attention.
“And that makes sense too, because for years after that film came out, people would come up to me and say, “You know, I really liked you in that film Scrimshaw Reduction” or “Shimmy, Shimmy, Shake” or “Shankshaw” — you know, so many different ways that people got it wrong.”
The fact that people praised Robbins for his performance even if they struggled to remember the name is a testament to the film’s lasting impression. The film now has a cult classic status and being on the top of an IMDB list certainly saves some the struggle of remembering its name.
The Shawshank Redemption can be rented or bought on Amazon and Apple TV.
