Is The Shawshank Redemption Based On A True Story?
screenrant.comThe Shawshank Redemption was released over 27 years ago to critical acclaim, and despite The Shawshank Redemption box office flop during its initial theatrical release, the 1994 film has since been embraced as one of cinema’s most beloved movies. Along with receiving seven Academy Award nominations, The Shawshank Redemption is still IMDb's top-rated movie of all time. In 2015, the film was chosen by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. So, is Shawshank Redemption a true story?
The Shawshank Redemption follows banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a man sentenced to life in prison in 1947 and spends the next 19 years hatching an escape plan from the Shawshank State Penitentiary. During his time incarcerated, Dufresne befriends fellow inmate and contraband smuggler Ellis ‘Red’ Redding, the film's narrator (played by Morgan Freeman) who unknowingly provides the banker with the tools needed for the escape. Although he serves as the film’s narrator, The Shawshank Redemption never reveals why Red is imprisoned. The original source material, on the other hand, provides more of a backstory for the character.
Related: Why Shawshank Redemption Is Still IMDb’s Top Rated Movie Of All Time
The answer to the question «is Shawshank Redemption a true story?» is, unfortunately, a no. The Shawshank Redemption is not based on a true story but was adapted from the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The story was originally published in Different Seasons, a collection of four King stories connected to each season of the year. King’s novella was adapted into a screenplay by Frank Darabont in the early 1990s, with Rita Hayworth removed from the Shawshank title to
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