To say Morgan Freeman is synonymous with the word ‘Legend‘ would be an understatement. The brilliant actor has starred in some of the greatest movies ever. His screen presence is alone worth watching any movie he has ever done. Among his many films, his $73 million movie by Frank Darabont is the one that solidified his position as Hollywood’s greatest actor ever.
The movie The Shawshank Redemption truly made him the star he is. However, before him, the movie was offered to stars like Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Costner, all of whom rejected it for different reasons.
Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Kevin Costner Regret Rejecting $73M Movie
One of the classic timeless movies in the history of cinema, The Shawshank Redemption was adapted from Stephen King‘s novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. Although the movie failed to make its mark at the box office, decades later it is among the most-watched movies of all time. It has even easily made its way into IMDb’s Top 250 favorite list.
The lead character, Andy Dufresne, was played by Tim Robbins, who could not have been more perfect for the role due to the emotional depth he added to the role. But before Robbins, the movie was originally offered to Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Costner, both of whom declined. While Cruise rejected the movie as he did not want Darabont to be completely in charge, Hanks turned down the role as he was busy with Philadelphia and Forest Gump. And Costner turned it down as he was busy doing Waterworld, which unfortunately bombed on the silver screen.
While Hanks and Cruise haven’t so far expressed their regrets over not starring in the movie, Costner did mention he regrets not taking the role.
Shawshank Redemption Solidified Morgan Freeman’s Status As A Hollywood Legend
Morgan Freeman played the iconic character Red in The Shawshank Redemption. One of the leads and narrators of the movie, Freeman received an Oscar nomination for the Best Actor category in a leading role. Not only did he do a marvelous job at portraying his character, the Seven star’s iconic narration added an emotional depth to the movie.
Not only was he instrumental in the movie’s subsequent success, the intensity through which he portrayed his characters has left a deep imprint on the audience’s mind. Even though Red was just a narrator in the tale of Andy, it was Freeman’s voice and expressions that made it worth watching a thousand times over.
The Shawshank Redemption is available to stream on Prime Video.
Source: Vanity Fair
