25 Things You Didn't Know About The Shawshank Redemption

22. Frank Darabont's Inexperience Was A Frequent Issue On Set

Incredibly, the movie was Frank Darabont's theatrical feature debut, and his lack of experience as a filmmaker caused plenty of friction on-set with the cast and crew, resulting in shooting often lasting up to 18 hours per day during six-day weeks.

Morgan Freeman took issue with the number of takes Darabont required for scenes which he felt had been completed to a high standard, to the extent that he often refused to perform additional takes that the director requested.

Though Tim Robbins was more compliant, he has since commented on the difficulty of such long shooting days.

But curiously, Darabont bristled the most with cinematographer Roger Deakins, due to their differing philosophies about the film's shooting style.

Darabont favoured epic, sweeping shots of the prison exterior, while Deakins felt that only showing the outside of the prison occasionally would emphasise the claustrophobic tension of the piece.