10 Things You Didn't Know About The Shawshank Redemption
8. Tom Cruise Almost Played The Role Of Andy Dufresne
If you thought the prospect of a different actor playing Red was strange, then you'll no doubt find this deeply unsettling: Tom Cruise was originally the front runner to play Andy Dufresne, but it wasn't a choice that Frank Darabont made. After Darabont secured the rights from Stephen King to adapt Shawshank into a feature film, Rob Reiner (of This Is Spinal Tap directorial fame) offered $2.5 million to direct Shawshank with Tom Cruise as Andy and Harrison Ford as Red. While Darabont was extremely interested in Reiner's vision for the film, he ultimately decided to direct the film himself, opting to pursue different actors for the roles of Andy and Red. Love him or loathe him, Cruise is a fantastic actor, and while he's known as more of an action star than one of drama by today's audiences, Cruise has been in his fair share of serious roles. A Few Good Men, Rain Man and Vanilla Sky have all had Cruise cast in roles that prove his versatility. Chemistry is what's important though, and it's hard to imagine Cruise having the same intimate (yet platonic) relationship with Harrison Ford as Tim Robbins did with Morgan Freeman. Bear in mind that Cruise would have been in his 30's at the time had he secured the role, and while Robbins is only a measly three years older than him, Tom simply would not have looked ragged enough to play the part.
Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.
