Tom Hanks

In the early 1990s, Tom Hanks had a very difficult choice to make - should he appear in ‘Forrest Gump’ or ‘The Shawshank Redemption’?
The 68-year-old had been offered the role of Andy Dufresne in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, but Hanks ultimately turned it down to star in ‘Forrest Gump’.

While ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is now considered one of the best movies of all time, the picture flopped at the box office in 1994.

Meanwhile, ‘Forrest Gump’ earned Hanks the Best Actor Oscar at the 67th Academy Awards, and cemented him as one of the biggest stars Hollywood had to offer.

Because Hanks rejected ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, Tim Robbins was able to swoop in and play Andy Dufresne opposite Morgan Freeman’s Ellis Boyd Redding.