Clint Eastwood’s filmography has cemented his status as one of the greatest actors of all time in many people’s eyes.

However, over the course of his career, even Eastwood missed out on some major opportunities.

One of those came with The Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont’s 1994 classic, which featured an impressive list of actors who were considered for key roles before the final cast came together.

Eastwood, Paul Newman, Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall were among those considered for Ellis “Red” Redding. In Stephen King’s novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,” Red is described as a white Irish-American.

However, according to Vanity Fair, Darabont revealed the names he was considering for the role before producer Liz Glotzer encouraged him to ignore the novella’s description of Red and cast Morgan Freeman. That’s ultimately what they did.

Eastwood was never formally offered the role, so it’s unknown whether he would have accepted it in the 1990s, when he was already producing and involved in several major projects.

The Shawshank Redemption Rated IMDb’s No. 1 Movie of All Time

Darabont’s film holds a 9.3 out of 10 rating on IMDb with more than 3.2 million ratings, making it the No. 1-rated movie on the entire platform — a title it’s held for more than three decades.

On Rotten Tomatoes, while the film isn’t acclaimed to the same extent as it is on IMDb, it still holds an 89% score, which remains exceptionally high.

Who Passed on the Film?

The biggest name to turn down the role of Andy Dufresne was Tom Cruise, who had second thoughts about Darabont directing his first feature film.

Other notable stars, including Tom Hanks and Kevin Costner, who also turned down the opportunity to play Dufresne in the film, but their decisions had nothing to do with Darabont’s inexperience.

Hanks was starring in Forrest Gump, which ultimately became an all-time classic, while Costner focused on Waterworld, which became one of his more notable box-office flops given its massive budget.

Tim Robbins ultimately landed the role, and it turned out to be the right move, as his chemistry with Freeman helped make the film all-time classic.