25 Things You Didn't Know About The Shawshank Redemption

16. Frank Darabont Took A Huge Pay Cut To Direct The Movie Himself

After Frank Darabont completed his script for the movie and it began doing the rounds in Hollywood, director Rob Reiner - who had previously helmed Stand by Me, also based off a King novella - loved the script enough to offer Darabont $2.5 million for the rights to it.

Reiner planned to direct it himself, while favouring Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise for Red and Andy respectively.

Darabont seriously considered the offer, but seeing this as his one big shot to "make it," turned it down, while taking a massive pay cut in order to direct the film himself, earning just $750,000 for writing and directing (plus a percentage of the net profits, of course).

As Darabont so eloquently put it himself, "You can continue to defer your dreams in exchange for money and, you know, die without ever having done the thing you set out to do." Reiner clearly had no hard feelings, though, serving as Darabont's mentor during production regardless.