(Credits: Far Out / Warner Bros)
Sun 28 September 2025 17:45, UK
‘Great art comes from great suffering,’ is an old adage routinely trotted out by those determined to romanticise hardships and inject some form of meaning into their own work. If there is a shred of truth in that saying, though, it would certainly go some way to explaining the cinematic masterpiece that is The Shawshank Redemption.
That 1994 film is totally awash with suffering, both from a narrative standpoint and behind the scenes of the production, too.
Sure, it might not have been gang beatings and the harsh realities of a life shut away from society in a place devoid of life and love, but the directorial techniques of Frank Darabont made the production a living hell for actors like Morgan Freeman. With 18-hour days, endless re-shoots, and an ever-increasing tension between the cast and the crew, it is fair to say that his time on The Shawshank Redemption is not something that the veteran actor looks back upon with fond memories.
Doing the same thing over and over again is always tedious, but the seemingly infinite takes shot by Darabont bordered on psychological warfare as far as Freeman was concerned – particularly given that the film had a limited budget, and a limited timeframe to shoot. Reportedly, there were a number of occasions in which Freeman outright refused to do any more takes of a scene, presumably in an effort to save his own sanity.
One such case in which Freeman probably should have put his foot down was during the filming of the first scene in which our protagonist, Andy Dufresne, meets with Freeman’s character, Red. Those who have seen the film, which, at this point, must be everybody, will recall that scene being one of the tamest scenes of the entire film, devoid of any violent influences. However, the filming process of that seemingly inconsequential sequence rendered Morgan Freeman with his arm in a sling.
For the scene, Freeman was required to throw a baseball back and forth with another inmate while Dufresne talked to him. On screen, the scene lasts a mere matter of minutes, but Darabont’s insatiable urge for multiple takes and contrasting angles meant the scene was shot and re-shot for hours on end. During an interview with Mark Dawidziak on-set, Freeman recalled, “It’s just a conversation that takes place when a few of the prisoners are throwing a baseball around in the prison yard. Nothing to it, right?”
In total, according to an on-set extra, the filming process for that scene alone took nine hours, and Freeman was throwing that same baseball for the duration. “So, you’re throwing and catching a baseball, hour after hour. Easy,” he claimed at the time, but throwing a ball for nine hours on end is easier said than done – even Sandy Koufax would have struggled with it.
Although he didn’t recognise it immediately after the scene, Freeman’s nine-hour game of catch took its toll on the actor’s arm. The following day, he turned up on set with his arm in a sling, with its muscles and tendons decimated from the unplanned and endless workout session the day before.
Of course, you would never know that upon viewing the film, but Darabont’s directing style and the gruelling nature of the filming process was nonetheless essential to the tone and atmosphere of the final film. Freeman might have despised the production, but not even he can deny the sheer brilliance of the final piece; some art is worth suffering for.
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