Vanity Fair posted a fascinating article yesterday about how The Shawshank Redemption went from a box office failure with a title no one could remember to being one of the most beloved films of all time.
Like all great stories, there are plenty of lessons to be learned from this one. Here are my takeaways:
Be True to Your Art
Frank Darabont was broke. He says in the article he was barely making enough to pay the rent. Then his screenplay adaptation of Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption found its way to Castle Rock Pictures.
And they loved it.
Rob Reiner offered Darabont somewhere in the neighborhood of three million dollars for the script. But there was a catch: Reiner wanted to direct the movie himself.
It was Darabont’s dream to direct this movie. So he said no. [Read more…] about Let’s Learn from The Shawshank Redemption