Mansfield, Ohio may seem like an unlikely place for Hollywood personalities, films and cocktail parties–except for Shawshank Redemption. When the filming of Shawshank Redemption made its way into Mansfield for the summer of 1993, many locals enjoyed the thrill of appearing on the big-screen, even if only for a moment.
As part of the Shawshank Redemption anniversary events, however, Jodiviah Stepp and Mark Sebastian Jordan shared their intimate stories on Saturday at Hostelling International at Malabar Farm. (And along the way, Richland Source visited some stops on the trail. A collection of photo images can be found by clicking on the collection at left.)
Stepp and Jordan each recalled scenes that did and did not make their way onto the late-blossomed-blockbuster that we now recognize as a classic. By the way, it barely broke even when it first came out.
Stepp and Jordan each served as extras for a short while in the film. Stepp was a featured extra, meaning he made it onto screen with some of the main characters like Tim Robbins’ Andy Dufresne.
Stepp shared his experience of the scene when the “new fish” (the new prisoners) made their way into their new home: prison. His character was the one right in front of Tim Robbins as they walked past the shouting prisoners. According to Stepp, when they first shot the scene, he was wearing a hat. But the director (Frank Darabont) cut the scene and re-shot it nbecause Stepp’s hat got in the way of Robbins’ face.
He also shared an embarassing moment. The scene was the one where the prisoners were naked because they were being hosed down. When it was Stepp’s turn to be sprayed with the high powered hose, he slipped and fell on his back. Tim Robbins had just been sprayed before him, so that meant the whole scene had to be shot again.
“I think that’s when I saw Tim (Robbins) get a little frustrated. Since I fell, that meant we had to re-shoot the whole scene, which meant he had to dry completely off and do the scene again,” reflected Stepp.
Jordan didn’t have any embarrassing moments. He did however, have the chance to observe the acting style differences between Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. During the scene in which Andy talks about the importance of having hope with “Red,” Jordan remembers the scene taking a long time to shoot because of the different angles.
“Morgan Freeman, every time they repeated a scene, would be word for word precise. Same words, same pauses, same phrasing, same inflection. And he would be cracking jokes right up until, sometimes past, the clapper started the scene, and then boom. He would drop into character like that,” said Jordan.
He went on to describe Tim Robbins as “the quintessential method actor.” He said Robbins would be in character the entire time he was in the state of Ohio for the filming of this movie.
“And unlike Morgan Freeman, every single time that Robbins did his lines, he would change the words. It was never the same way twice,” said Jordan. “It was an amazing contrast between the two in this scene,” he added.
Both Jordan and Stepp say they had an amazing time being extras in Shawshank Redemption and both have appeared in different television series since their involvement with Shawshank. Stepp will appear in the television series “Dead of Night (2014)” as Detective Dana Farbacher. Jordan will appear in the new season of “Mysteries at the Museum” with Don Wildman on the Travel Channel.
The two men try to meet every year at the same spot to retell stories of their time as extras. To listen to the rest of their stories, visit them out at Malabar Farm at the Hostelling International during the Shawshank Trail weekend. For more information, visit the website.
