During the climax of the movie, Andy escapes prison after digging a hole in his cell wall and crawling through the sewers. As you can imagine, he gets elbow deep in his fellow inmates’ waste, among other things. Don’t worry, the excrement wasn’t real. The director didn’t make Tim Robbins crawl through actual human waste.
The sludge was much tastier than you think, because the fake waste was a mixture of Chocolate syrup, sawdust, and water. According to the people who still visit the old sets in Ohio, the pipes still smell like chocolate to this day.
The Extras Were Ex-Cons
Every filmmaker deals with obstacles. Extras, even though their roles are minor, are still needed to make prison look like a prison and not a ghost town with barred windows. The inmates were supposed to be portrayed by the local inhabitants, but they left after one day of shooting to go back to their regular nine to fives. So, the director had to find a quick solution.
To get the extras they needed, the production team went to a halfway house. Many of the inmates in the movie were real ex-cons. So it's safe to say that they were ready for their roles.
A Real Portrayal
Clancy Brown, the actor who plays Captain Hadley, was approached by real correctional officers to help him make his portrayal as realistic as possible. Brown didn’t want to distort the image of real correctional officers, so he turned them all down.
Brown knew that to portray Captain Hadley, he had to go all-in on the evil aspects of the character. He did such a great job that Captain Hadley is still one of the most hated movie characters of all time.
The Entire Set Almost Burned Down to the Ground
The set of Shawshank prison's cell block was built from scratch using plastic sheets over windows and lamps to simulate daylight. This setup was so hazardous that if you put a lamp too close to the plastic sheets, they might catch fire. And you guessed it, that's exactly what happened.
Luckily, the director and an extra were on their way to get coffee and extinguished the fire before it became too big. Thanks to a chronic coffee addiction, the set and the movie were saved that day.
Shawshank Souvenirs
'The Shawshank Redemption' has brought tourism to Ohio through the years. The local economy benefits a lot from Shawshank tourism. So much so that many local businesses sell Shawshank-related products.
If you get to Ohio's "Shawshank Trail," you can find products like Reformatory "Red" Wines and Shawshank Bundt Cakes. For you die-hard fans out there, grab a slice of "Redemption Pie" at Two Cousins' Pizza. Remember not to picture Andy crawling through prison waste when you eat it.