Yesterday I showed how Stephen King described Andy Dufresne in his novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, today we’ll look at how Frank Darabont described the same character in his screenplay The Shawshank Redemption:
ANDY DUFRESNE, mid-20’s, wire rim glasses, three-piece suit. Under normal circumstances a respectable, solid citizen; hardly dangerous, perhaps even meek. But these circumstances are far from normal. He is disheveled, unshaven, and very drunk. A cigarette smolders in his mouth. His eyes, flinty and hard, are riveted to the bungalow up the path.
I had more than one screenwriting instructor who would have taken Darabont to task for writing—”under normal circumstances a respectable, solid citizen”—because it violates the “show, don’t tell” concept. But you can nitpick any screenplay and find traditional violations. Darabont captured the magic and that’s what really counts. Besides, Darabont was directing the film so he didn’t have to worry about what a director (or reader, or screenwriting instructor) thought of his character description.
More interesting is the single biggest detail between describing Andy in the book and the screenplay; Darabont introduces Andy as short and Darabont does not. Why? I imagine simply because Darabont was trying to get a movie made and didn’t want to limit his choices, and I’m sure he was hoping to land a name actor and some name actors are…well, not very tall…and why risk offending them on page one.
When King mentions that Andy is short it sets up a contrast of being in a tough place and Andy’s growth as a person. And it makes the prison rape aspects in the novella more believable . He’s more of a target for the “sisters” as King and Darabont call them. Now actor Tim Robbins, who plays Andy in the movie, is tall (6′ 5′) so he had to play up the quiet and intellectual aspects of the character. And he did that without wearing glasses as both King and Darabont had described.
Here’s how Andy was introduced into the prison in the movie. Not to be confused with how he’s introduced at the start of the film. (Notice how many lines of dialogue Andy has in this six-minute scene. Zero—not a single word):
Related Posts:
Show, Don’t Tell (Tip #46)
Show, Don’t Tell (Part 2)