25 Things You Didn't Know About The Shawshank Redemption

By Jack Pooley / July 18, 2023

20. Frank Darabont Used Goodfellas As Inspiration

Given Darabont's noted inexperience while making the film, he quite sensibly deferred to one of the all-time filmmaking masters for inspiration during shooting.

Every Sunday while making The Shawshank Redemption, Darabont would watch Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, ultimately taking note of its exemplary use of voiceover narration and sharp editing to dictate the passage of time.

The irony, of course, is that Goodfellas under-performed at the Oscars just like Shawshank, and Shawshank's popularity actually allowed it to leapfrog Goodfellas - the latter being ranked #18 on the IMDB Top 250 compared to Shawshank's #1.