They've been waiting for you, haven't you?

So great to see you both.

I was very heartened to learn that the two of you had breakfast this morning.

This has been a bit of a catch up.

When is the last time you two saw each other?

Well I came to a play of his in Venice at his theater.

The Actors Gang Theater.

Some while back.

Yeah, some while back.

That's when we saw each other.

Some while back.

How did he do?

No, he's, uh...

Uh, here we go.

Well he's such a good friend.

You can't say anything disparaging about him.

So I won't.

I won't say anything bad either.

I've always wondered, what do you say when you don't love the person's show?

And then you go backstage.

What do you then say?

You guys looked excited up there.

So much energy.

I think I've said that's really interesting before.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know.

That was very interesting.

I really like the, uh...

How did you memorize all those lines?

Who wrote that?

Now let's take a little bit of a stroll down memory lane with the Shawshank Redemption.

Morgan, I'd be curious to hear if you have a memory of the first time you read it.

I vaguely do remember the first time that I read it.

And a note said that my part was going to be read.

And then I had an interview at Castle Rock with all of the bigwigs there.

And they said, thinking about Andy Dufresne, who do you think would be...

And I said, well, what are my choices?

And then they ran off two or three choices, and I said, yeah, there he is.

Thanks, Morgan.

We did good, didn't we?

You did.

We did good.

You did.

You did.

Ask me another one.

Tim, my understanding is that Frank Darabont was particularly impressed with your performance in Jacob's Ladder.

Did he make that known to you, or is that lore?

I'm flattered if that's the case.

He never told me that.

But you asked about the script.

I remember reading that script, and it was one of the best I'd ever read.

I mean, seriously, that script from beginning to end was...

Very little was changed.

A lot of times when you're doing a film, you see different color pages all the time, and this one was pretty solid.

Oh, and let's point out that he's a writer also.

He writes plays and directs plays and acts in plays and makes me look like I don't know what I'm doing.

Well, actually, now that you mention it, Morgan, I'm doing a play right now.

I'll be quick.

It's called Topsy-Turvy.

It's at the Actors Gang Theater in Culver City.

It opens May 9th.

Go to actorsgang.com for tickets.

I'll be there.

It'll be fun.

That's all.

Sorry.

Any relation to the Topsy-Turvy Gilbert and Sullivan Mike Lee?

No, this is an entirely different type of film.

Entirely different.

Okay.

I still like the title.

Speaking of titles, did the title of this film give either of you pause?

It's a mouthful.

Well, it was originally Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, but then they shortened it to something that no one could say.

Right.

And I wondered about that.

I said to the marketers, why did you do that?

And they said, well, it doesn't fit on the marquee.

Okay.

But you got one sheets?

That's work, Walter.

But you know what happened with that movie?

It didn't do well in the box office, simply because the best way to sell anything is word of mouth.

And nobody could really get out past Shim-Shunk.

Something like that.

Shim-Shunk.

There you go.

Shim-Shunk Reduction was the best one I heard.

Shim-Shunk Reduction.

I mean, they might have considered that.

Then it would have been a blockbuster.

When you guys think back to the filming of this all these decades ago, was it smooth?

Was it challenging?

What kind of sticks out in your mind, Morgan?

I found it smooth.

There were some challenges, but they were challenges of ideas.

I think you should do this.

Well, I'm not going to.

What about yourself, Tim?

I think you should do this.

I'm not going to.

That can happen four or five times.

So anyway, yes, it's always that way, though.

I mean, we don't really say, I'm not going to do that.

You have a conversation, and everyone had great intentions on that movie.

We had a beautiful script to work with, and we had great actors, and a lot of camaraderie.

It was a delightful summer, I thought.

I had a good time.

In Ohio.

In Ohio.

Before Maine.

Yes.

Right.

I stayed in a Seventh Day Adventist dentist house.

Oh.

You did?

What were the hallmarks of Seventh Day Adventist dentist decor?

We had a couple barbecues over there, and then a tornado.

That was the downside.

Really?

Yeah.

But it survived.

And now, you know, Mansfield, Ohio is like a...

Tourist attraction.

Tourist attraction.

They do a bunch of tours there.

Have you guys been back since?

No.

No, you have not.

Because my understanding is that people involved in this movie do go back.

Back to Mansfield?

Mansfield.

Long story.

I had a horse.

And my wife at the time sent the horse to Mansfield.

And there was a guy there who had horses and boarded my horse.

And we became fast friends.

Well, after the movie finished and I went home, oh, he had bone cancer.

So, long about February of 1993, right?

I went back up to Mansfield to see him and, you know, say, bon voyage, as it were.

And I was riding his horse one morning, and the horse slipped on the ice and fell on me.

So, forever after that, I've had this foot that was crushed under this horse.

And you got all these little bones up there in the front part of your foot, you know.

They're not your toes.

And they were all crushed and stuff.

And I went to the doctor and he said, well, not going to do you any good trying to do surgery on you.

He said, we'll just sort of mobilize the foot and it'll come back together as it will.

Well, the foot went back together as it will, and now I can't walk on it.

Of course, this is really years later.

But what a story, huh?

So, wait. So, this is when, you said early 93.

This is when in relation to the filming of the movie.

Right after.

Right after.

Right.

We wrapped in 92.

Okay.

Right?

We wrapped in three, it came out in four.

In four.

Okay.

That sounds about right.

Yeah.

We wrapped in four and it came out in four.

It definitely came out in four.

Because it got that Oscar nomination.

Yeah.

Many of them, in fact.

Now, Tim, because I'm sitting here with you and there is a river of shit in this movie,

I'm so curious about your recollection of that whole experience.

My understanding that there might have been like sawdust, chocolate, some sort of mixture involved, but then some actual toxic water that you had to submerge.

Well, yeah.

The thing in this, the sludge that I was crawling through was a lot safer than the water I fell into.

Because the water I fell into was in farm country.

So, it was filled with cow urine and, you know.

So, we had a toxicologist come out, test it.

They had a shower ready for me at all times.

So, I came out of a river of Fuller's Earth and fell into a river of crap.

And you're here to tell the tale.

I'm here to tell the tale.

And we are all very appreciative of it because that is one of the most powerful images in the entire film.

Now, I'm sure that the vast majority of people in this audience have seen this film before, but I'm going to assume there are people who have not.

So, I'm going to tread a little bit lightly here.

But the last scene of the movie was something that my understanding is that you shot after the fact.

And it's a very satisfying ending.

So, maybe without being that specific, were you guys on board when you were told that you were going to go back and shoot a little tag at the end?

Yeah, we knew that it didn't end where we had to stop.

That was this great beach scene.

St. Croix.

Yeah.

But I don't remember actually coming back.

I thought we went right after Ohio, but I could be wrong.

But, yeah.

I remember sailing my boat from Virgin Gorge, where I was, to St. Croix.

St. Croix.

As you do.

Right.

I mean, you alluded, Morgan, to the fact that the movie was not a runaway smash at the time it came out.

But obviously, look at this room.

Yeah.

And look at...

Right?

Thank you.

I'd be curious to know from both of you how it became clear to you, perhaps gradually, over these last 30 years, what a favorite this film has become to so many people.

How did you know that was happening?

We kept getting reports of its growth among audiences.

I think we won an award in England.

The picture did.

So, information like that gets in around you, but we didn't have a back end.

You know that, right?

No back end.

Oh.

That's fine.

No, you're right.

You're right.

How about you?

Yeah.

People would stop me on the street.

I was living in New York at the time, and people would stop me on the street.

A lot of guys.

And tell me, you know, like working class dudes that are just out there on the street, doing their jobs and stuff, would say how important the film was to them.

That was when I started thinking, wow, this movie touched something in people that I guess a lot of movies don't.

So what is it?

Who knows what it is?

I have a feeling it has to do with the idea that there's a great friendship and love that happens in the film, and I don't think we see a lot of films like that.

Usually friendships are bonded around car chases and chasing skirts and stuff.

But this is a genuine friendship, an adult love for each other.

And maybe people need to see that.

Maybe there's something about the idea that we all, no matter whether we're in prison or not, we all have things that put us in prison, whether it's a shit job or a bad relationship or whatever.

And maybe we all want to believe that there's a Zihuatanejo ahead for us, regardless of our circumstances.

So, I'm not sure.

Before everyone watches this film, I have two little quick questions I want to end with.

Because we're in a Turner Classic Movies crowd, and we see on the wall of your cell, at different points in the movie, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, and Raquel Welch, you have to choose one.

Can I say Carol Lombard?

Yes, you can.

Yeah.

I have a question.

Yeah.