20 Things You Somehow Missed In The Shawshank Redemption

Have you ever noticed that Andy's crouching down, kneeling, or sitting quite a bit in The Shawshank Redemption? There’s a common camera trick often utilized by directors and their cinematographers to make one actor seem much taller or much shorter than they actually are. It’s seen throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy, for one, but it’s also used in The Shawshank Redemption.

Tim Robbins is abnormally tall, which made playing his character Andy difficult at times. Robbins is 6’5” in real life, while most of the other actors couldn't even come close to that. To fix this, Darabont and cinematographer Roger Deakins needed to make him look a little less tall. This proved to be especially tricky whenever Robbins was standing in crowds of prisoners — he would've looked pretty strange towering over everyone else.

Next time you're watching the movie, try and count how many times he's not standing up straight or standing next to his fellow actors. Deakins and Darabont always have him positioned in such a way that he seems a good six inches shorter (at least).