Welcome to my message board.
New member registration has been disabled due to heavy spammer activity. If you'd like to join the board, please email me at MaxDevore at hotmail dot com.
New member registration has been disabled due to heavy spammer activity. If you'd like to join the board, please email me at MaxDevore at hotmail dot com.
'Shawshank' 15-year reunion triggers festival
It was 15 years ago this summer that much of the film "The Shawshank Redemption," starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, was shot at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield.
Upper Sandusky also attracted filmmakers to its courthouse and lumberyard, as did Malabar Farm State Park near Lucas and many sites in and around Richland and Ashland counties.
In August, local businessman Bill Mullen, who owns the historic lumber building where the wood shop scene was shot, is throwing a Shawshank Redemption Reunion, with events planned Aug. 29, 30 and 31. Mullen wants extras, anyone involved with the production and fans of the film to join in the celebration.
On Aug. 29, there will be reformatory tours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The reunion and dance is Aug. 30 at the 228 S. Eighth St. lumberyard. More than 1,000 people, including many Mansfielders who were extras in the Stephen King film, plan to attend, Mullen said.
A self-described huge fan of "The Shawshank Redemption," Mullen said he wants guests to bring memorabilia, dress up from that era and bring any old cars that may have appeared in the film.
For those not familiar with the wood shop scene, Andy (Robbins) locks himself in the warden's office and plays Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" over the public address system. But the scene filmed here is all about Red (Freeman) and other inmates working, and their reaction to when the music begins.
Mullen has remodeled a portion of the vacant building for the reunion, where he will showcase eight movie posters, which he purchased on eBay, that once hung theaters around the world.
"We're trying to get one or more of the major stars to the reunion," he said. "We're trying to get Hollywood actor Clancy Brown (who played Captain Hadley) because he is from Ohio."
Don Stephan, of Upper Sandusky, whose family owned the lumberyard during filming, plans to be at the reunion. Stephan played an inmate.
"Castle Rock bought the business for one day for the shooting and closed the actual lumberyard operation," he said. "When they asked me about using the lumberyard, I thought about it for awhile. And I though well, I'll never get to see a movie from the wrong side of a camera again."
Filming at the lumberyard lasted from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 31, 1993. Filming at the courthouse took three days.
Mullen said visitors will see several Shawshank extras in a special "re-enactment" in the wood shop. He and his wife April Mullen have displayed in museum-like glass cases "Shawshank" memorabilia, including prison outfits and patches and shields worn by prison guards.
"These all belong to extra Max Gerber, of Upper Sandusky. He is the only extra listed in the credits," Mullen said. "The wardrobe lady let him keep some of the clothes."
Mullen said while he wasn't in the movie, his closest connection to the film was he owned a 1949 Oldsmobile 98 convertible.
"We submitted a photo and we never heard anything for months then all of a sudden a letter comes, 'We want your car in the movie,' " he said. "Guess what? We sold it. Took it all the way to Kentucky. I told the guy we'll haul it all the way back if you'll let us put it in the movie and he said no."
For more information, go to Mullen's Web site at www.shawshankredemptionreunion.com.
Upper Sandusky also attracted filmmakers to its courthouse and lumberyard, as did Malabar Farm State Park near Lucas and many sites in and around Richland and Ashland counties.
In August, local businessman Bill Mullen, who owns the historic lumber building where the wood shop scene was shot, is throwing a Shawshank Redemption Reunion, with events planned Aug. 29, 30 and 31. Mullen wants extras, anyone involved with the production and fans of the film to join in the celebration.
On Aug. 29, there will be reformatory tours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The reunion and dance is Aug. 30 at the 228 S. Eighth St. lumberyard. More than 1,000 people, including many Mansfielders who were extras in the Stephen King film, plan to attend, Mullen said.
A self-described huge fan of "The Shawshank Redemption," Mullen said he wants guests to bring memorabilia, dress up from that era and bring any old cars that may have appeared in the film.
For those not familiar with the wood shop scene, Andy (Robbins) locks himself in the warden's office and plays Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" over the public address system. But the scene filmed here is all about Red (Freeman) and other inmates working, and their reaction to when the music begins.
Mullen has remodeled a portion of the vacant building for the reunion, where he will showcase eight movie posters, which he purchased on eBay, that once hung theaters around the world.
"We're trying to get one or more of the major stars to the reunion," he said. "We're trying to get Hollywood actor Clancy Brown (who played Captain Hadley) because he is from Ohio."
Don Stephan, of Upper Sandusky, whose family owned the lumberyard during filming, plans to be at the reunion. Stephan played an inmate.
"Castle Rock bought the business for one day for the shooting and closed the actual lumberyard operation," he said. "When they asked me about using the lumberyard, I thought about it for awhile. And I though well, I'll never get to see a movie from the wrong side of a camera again."
Filming at the lumberyard lasted from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 31, 1993. Filming at the courthouse took three days.
Mullen said visitors will see several Shawshank extras in a special "re-enactment" in the wood shop. He and his wife April Mullen have displayed in museum-like glass cases "Shawshank" memorabilia, including prison outfits and patches and shields worn by prison guards.
"These all belong to extra Max Gerber, of Upper Sandusky. He is the only extra listed in the credits," Mullen said. "The wardrobe lady let him keep some of the clothes."
Mullen said while he wasn't in the movie, his closest connection to the film was he owned a 1949 Oldsmobile 98 convertible.
"We submitted a photo and we never heard anything for months then all of a sudden a letter comes, 'We want your car in the movie,' " he said. "Guess what? We sold it. Took it all the way to Kentucky. I told the guy we'll haul it all the way back if you'll let us put it in the movie and he said no."
For more information, go to Mullen's Web site at www.shawshankredemptionreunion.com.
Comments
The public is invited to take part in the movie's reunion activities which include tours of the locations where it was filmed.
North Central Ohio residents who played a role in the making of "The Shawshank Redemption" have planned a reunion this month to mark the 15th anniversary of the movie.
Hollywood came to North Central Ohio in 1993 to film one of the most widely-acclaimed movies of all times. It was based on a short story by Stephen King and directed by Frank Darabont. After it was released in 1994, the movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including "best picture."
Hundreds of area residents were hired as movie extras and others were signed on for technical jobs on the movie which was filmed on location at the old Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, in Upper Sandusky at the Wyandot County Courthouse and Stephan Lumber Company, in Ashland at the Huntington Bank building and at Malabar Farm near Lucas.
The organizers have scheduled tours of the old prison in Mansfield on Friday, Aug. 29, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Huntington Bank in Ashland will be open for tours Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On Saturday, Aug. 30, the activities will move to Upper Sandusky where tours will be available from 12 noon to 11 p.m. of the Stephan Lumber Company's woodworking shop. Tours of the Wyandot County Courthouse will be available from noon to 4 p.m. There will be live entertainment, the playing of the movie at the Star Theatre and a beer garden available in Upper Sandusky during the reunion activities.
On Sunday, Aug. 31, Malabar Farm will be open for movie tours from noon to 4 p.m. The Pugh Cabin and the farm fields were used for location shots by the movie crew. "The Shawshank Redemption" will be playing in Malabar's big barn throughout the day.
Proceeds from the reunion events will be used for restoration projects at several of the historic buildings involved, especially the old reformatory in Mansfield.
There's a weird advantage for northern Ohioans playing the old ''six degrees of Kevin Bacon'' game.
That's the film trivia exercise where you name a random actor and you have to connect him or her to Bacon in six steps or less.
Take Rob Lewis, for instance. Guy lives around here, no Hollywood connections, no movie star friends. The operations director of the Akron Film Festival made a local independent film called American Stories, in which he played a cameo role. The cast included another local guy named Larry Miles . . . who was in The Shawshank Redemption . . . with Tim Robbins . . . who was in Mystic River with . . . Kevin Bacon.
Three degrees.
You start testing this, and you find it happening over and over. The Shawshank Redemption was filmed 15 years ago at locations in Mansfield and Upper Sandusky and Ashland, making use of the creepily ornate, out-of-commission Ohio State Reformatory and the well preserved mid-century architecture in those towns.
It also made use of lots of gaffers, best boys, crowd scene extras and a few local professional actors.
All of which adds up to a certain kind of legacy unique to places like ours, where brushes with fame are rare and therefore have unusual staying power.
People in these parts will rent The Shawshank Redemption and freeze the movie on their DVD players to relive their 15 seconds (or less) of fame. They scan the backgrounds for familiar buildings. They look at, say, the bank where protagonist Andy Dufresne makes a notable withdrawal and realize — it's the actual bank in downtown Ashland where they make their own withdrawals.
Next thing you know, you're rubbing metaphorical shoulders with Kevin Bacon.
That's why a 15-year Shawshank Redemption Reunion organized for next weekend seems entirely reasonable, and why it's scheduled over three days at seven locations in three different cities, and why Gov. Ted Strickland has signed an official proclamation recognizing the event:''FRANCES AND I EXTEND OUR BEST WISHES FOR AN ENJOYABLE CELEBRATION!''
It's why Rohn Thomas, a veteran Kent actor, can always count on a piqued response when he mentions The Shawshank Redemption. It doesn't matter that he has appeared in an impressive number and caliber of Hollywood productions, nor that his Shawshank role was a blink-or-you'll-miss-it moment, nor that he has no degrees of Kevin Bacon separation — they were in a film together.
''Shawshank Redemption,'' he says. ''When I mention that movie, that's the one they get excited about.''
Thomas played the editor of the fictional paper The Bugle, appearing only for a moment in a montage scene late in the film, as Robbins' character completes his elaborate escape plan. He was originally cast in a different, larger role as a parole board member, but was committed to another film shooting at the same time in Pittsburgh. The newspaper office scene was filmed on the last day of shooting in Ohio, so he squeaked in.
These slim degrees of separation are not limited to human participants.
You can walk into Stagecoach Antiques in Akron and pick up, say, a hairbrush, and learn that this hairbrush used to share shelf space with the vintage shoeshine brush purchased by the Shawshank crew for use in the key scene when Robbins buffs his shoes in preparation for his escape.
And Tim Robbins was in Mystic River with Kevin Bacon, and there you have it — a brush's brush with fame.
Stagecoach owner Leo Walter once described the production company as ''wonderful customers'' for their purchase of tin cups, pocketknives, toiletries, tools, books and even the baseball glove Morgan Freeman uses in a game of prison-yard catch.
Lots of movies have been made in Northeast Ohio. Kevin Bacon even made one, for gosh sakes — Telling Lies in America, shot in Cleveland in 1996.
So why does Shawshank seem to have such particular resonance?
James Renner, who worked as a film and TV director before becoming an author and staff writer for Scene magazine, has a theory.
''It's become like one of those historical events — in reality, only 20 people probably were there, but 100 say they were in Shawshank,'' he said.
Renner, who plans to attend some of the reunion events, never brushed up against Kevin Bacon, but he has his own unique connection to The Shawshank Redemption. The 30-year-old Akron resident directed one of Stephen King's so-called ''dollar babies'' — a series of films made when King granted one-year movie rights to his stories for one dollar.
The first dollar baby was made by Frank Darabont, who also directed Shawshank, which itself was adapted from a King short story. Renner made the 10th dollar baby, All That You Love Will Be Carried Away. And he later organized a festival of the films in King's hometown of Bangor, Maine.
So he has a certain insight into the way even a mainstream film like The Shawshank Redemption also has a corollary cult following.
Some of it's the King effect — an author whose celebrity is magnetic; some is based on the fact that the movie made a slow, grass-roots build toward popularity; and some of it's that unique connection to Ohio Everyman-ness.
Renner recalls working on a commercial one time, and chatting with an electrician on the set:
''He said, 'If you watch the movie' — and he even knew the exact frame number — he said, 'That's totally my right hand hanging out that door.' And he was so proud.''