Scenes 202 & 203. These were never shot (see 204 for explanation).

Scene 204. Here's an example of the actor's instinct proving better than the
writer's. There was something about this scene that bothered Tim Robbins from
the very first rehearsal: he thought the location was wrong. Since this is Andy's lowest
point in the story, he argued, then surely the scene should take place in solitary con-
finement instead of Norton's office. Tim was right. Having the scene take place in
as mundane a setting as an office was not only less interesting and repetitive of what
came before, but -- by dint of so casual a setting -- it put Andy and Norton on too
much of an equal footing at this point in the story. However, by having Norton
come to see Andy in the "hole," we have the perfect and logical setting for the
power-play taking place, for the threats and ultimatums. It puts Andy in his place
and keeps him there, showing him at the lowest point of his subjugation. It was a
great idea, and by far the best creative choice. Thanks, Tim.

Scene 207. Dropped during editing for reasons of length.

Scene 210. An expendable scene that was never shot.

Scene 213. We never shot Andy polishing the chess piece. The focus of this moment,
the weight of this scene, had to be the rope hidden under the pillow. (Besides, enough
with the rocks already! We'd seen plenty of them in the movie by now!)

Scene 215. Here's another real-life prison guard doing a great job playing a guard in
the movie -- Chuck Brauchler, who turns and hollers: "Man missing on tier two!"

Scene 216. I dropped this during shooting for two very good reasons; one prac-
tical, the other creative. On the practical side, the set we were shooting on was so
small that there was no way on earth to reveal the entire cell (one couldn't just back
the camera up, or use a wide enough lens, to get the whole thing into frame). On
the creative side, I realized that cutting straight from 215 to 217 (from Haig's
stunned face to Norton opening the shoebox) would delay the revelation that Andy
has vanished from his cell in a way that would heighten the audience's pleasure and
anticipation.

Scenes 218 & 219. I combined these two scenes into one. I believe it plays bet-
ter entirely on the cellblock tier; it's funnier and more direct.

Scenes 222 through 227. This has always been one of my favorite sequences in
Stephen King's story; it made me laugh till tears were rolling down my cheeks when
I first read it. And because it's also the movie's best example of a terrifically writ-
ten sequence dropping dead on screen with a dull thud, it points up the fundamental
difference between a book and a movie. Written fiction and film are two different
languages, and sometimes things just don't translate. What was excruciatingly
funny on the printed page became excruciatingly labored and protracted on screen.
My editor Richard and I spent weeks trying to figure out why it didn't work, recut-
ting it numerous times to try and make the pieces fit. Finally, it dawned on me that
the sequence didn't work for one reason -- it didn't belong in the movie. Why? Because
once we see Norton discover a tunnel behind the poster, once we realize that Andy
has actually by-God escaped, we want the movie to deal with that revelation. We want
to see what happens next, where Andy went, how he pulled it off. What we don't
want is to go off the subject entirely, to take a leisurely two-and-a-half-minute
detour down an airshaft at the end of a rope with a character we've never met.
When I asked Richard to remove the sequence entirely -- which meant going
straight from Scene 221 (the warden's stunned face peering down the tunnel) to Scene
228 (the state police cars rocketing up the road) -- this section of the movie sprang
to life with an energy and momentum that had been completely absent before. From
a narrative standpoint, it was the right decision to make. (Apologies to Anthony
Lucero, the actor who played Rory, for cutting him out of the film. My other regret
is that you never got a chance to see the footage of Morgan laughing. My God, the
man went on for over two minutes, tears rolling down his face and barely able to
breathe, leaving the viewer just as helpless. It was a wonderful performance.)

Scene 228. You see in the movie exactly what the screenplay describes: a rural road
leading toward Shawshank Prison in the distance. What you don't see on screen is
the fact that the only rural-looking road on a direct line of sight with the old prison
is actually the driveway of the new prison just up the way (if the camera had panned
even a few degrees to the left or right, you would have seen the perimeter fencing).

Scene 231. This was combined during filming with 233. Red's voice-over in 232
and 233 was shifted around a bit for a smoother flow.

Scene 234. The tail of this scene (Andy diving into bed as the guard strolls past)
was never shot.

Scenes 236 through 238. Dropped during editing for reasons of length.

Scenes 239 & 240. Expendable scenes that were never shot.

Scene 241. This image seemed visually jarring during this sequence, so it was
dropped during editing. Red's voice-over was shifted to Scene 242. '

Scene 243. Dropped during editing for pace. Red's voice-over shifted to 244.

Scene 249. This scene is obviously much more elaborate in the script than in the
film. Let's blame the clock again, because I had very little time to shoot it. (If there's
one thing in the movie I could go back and improve, I'd get at least one or two more
angles of Andy climbing down the shaft.) Also, because a ceramic sewer pipe is a
hell of a lot thicker and sturdier than I imagined when writing, Andy's dinky lit-
tle rock hammer was replaced with a handy chunk of concrete as the tool of
choice for believably breaking the pipe open.