After helming The Shawshank Redemption, which is still ranked by the IMDB Top 250 list as the greatest movie ever made, writer-director Frank Darabont apparently wasn’t satisfied with turning one prison-set Stephen King story into a cinematic masterpiece, so he went and did it again with The Green Mile, a story of death row and magic realism.

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King originally published the novel in installments, as a response to readers who always skipped to the last page of his books to see how they ended, and even he didn’t know how it was going to end when he started. The result is a three-hour movie with a storied production process.

John Travolta Was Offered The Role Of Paul Edgecomb

John Travolta in Pulp Fiction

Before Tom Hanks was cast to play Paul Edgecomb, the role was offered to John Travolta, who was on a hot streak following Pulp Fiction’s career comeback, but he turned down the part.

Michael Keaton and Michael Douglas were both considered before Hanks was chosen. Similarly, Josh Brolin auditioned to play “Wild Bill” Wharton, while the role of Melinda Moores was offered to Jennifer Lopez, who turned it down.

Tom Hanks Did The Movie As A Favor To Frank Darabont

Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb in The Green Mile

When he was offered the role of Paul Edgecomb in The Green Mile, Tom Hanks accepted the part as a favor to director Frank Darabont. Hanks was originally set to play Andy Defresne in The Shawshank Redemption, but turned it down to play Forrest Gump, so he starred in The Green Mile to make up for it.

Initially, Hanks was going to play the older version of Paul Edgecomb, but the makeup tests didn’t really work out and the producers instead decided to cast Dabbs Greer as the older character.

Michael Clarke Duncan Was Cast At Bruce Willis’ Suggestion

Michael Clarke Duncan watches a film in The Green Mile

The casting team for The Green Mile struggled to find the perfect actor to play John Coffey. Michael Clarke Duncan was hired at the suggestion of Bruce Willis, who’d just worked with him on Armageddon.

This proved to be not just a great choice for The Green Mile, but for Duncan as well. Arguably, The Green Mile helped solidify Duncan as both a blockbuster star and a serious actor, as his role as John Coffey landed him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, just to name one of the many awards bodies that recognized his talent.

Frank Darabont’s Screenplay Was Influenced By His Cat’s Battle With A Tumor

John Coffey points at something and Paul looks on in The Green Mile.

Frank Darabont managed to turn the doorstop that is Stephen King’s 620-page The Green Mile into a filmable screenplay in just around eight weeks. While he was writing, his cat developed a tumor. Since it wasn’t causing the cat any pain, Darabont decided not to have it put down and took care of it while he was working on the script.

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He found that his cat’s battle with a relatively painless tumor fed into the story's themes of death row inmates waiting for their inevitable demise. Sadly, Darabont's cat died around the same time that he completed the script.

15 Mice Underwent Extensive Training To Become Mr. Jingles

Mister Jingles the mouse in The Green Mile

Believe it or not, for the role of Mr. Jingles, a total of 15 mice were used in The Green Mile. Each of those mice was trained for months to be able to do the tricks required of them by the script.

In a lot of the reaction shots of actors looking at the mouse, their eyes are actually following a laser pointer being waved around by a crew member off-camera. Only the most eagle-eyed viewer would've noticed that the mice would change in each shot.

Michael Jeter Improvised His Character’s Last Words

Michael Jeter in The Green Mile

According to producer David Valdes, the cast was galvanized by the incredible work of Michael Jeter, who portrayed Eduard "Del" Delacroix. The actor hired a dialect coach to help him nail his character’s Cajun accent.

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Jeter ad-libbed his Del's last words – praying the “Hail Mary” in Cajun French as he’s about to be electrocuted – and it added so much substance to the scene. Reportedly, Tom Hanks apparently wept on Jeter’s last day of filming.

Sam Rockwell Requested Prosthetic Zits For His Nude Scene

Sam Rockwell in The Green Mile

Sam Rockwell wanted his performance as William "Wild Bill" Wharton to be as faithful to the source novel as possible. So to this effect, he told the makeup team to cover him in fake zits for his nude scene.

Needless to say, this worked and Wild Bill looked a lot more disgusting and creepy than his actions already did. That’s pretty impressive commitment to a role.

The Green Mile Was The First Stephen King Adaptation To Gross More Than $100 Million In The U.S.

Tom Hanks in The Green Mile

Although the vast bibliography of Stephen King is a popular source for movie projects (more than 30 of his stories have been turned into movies), not a single King adaptation had grossed more than $100 million at the U.S. box office. That was until The Green Mile came along.

To date and even with a slew of critically beloved King adaptations in recent years, The Green Mile remained the only one to have broken the $100 million mark until It: Chapter One came along in 2017.

Michael Clarke Duncan Thought Of His Father Leaving To Prepare For Emotional Scenes

John Coffey escorted in cuffs by policemen in The Green Mile

To prepare for the more emotional scenes in The Green Mile, Michael Clarke Duncan thought about his father leaving when he was a child to elicit the necessary sadness. This worked perfectly, with many of Duncan's scenes being cited as the best and most powerful moments of the already emotionally charged film.

In a similar vein, Tom Hanks reportedly stayed in character as Paul Edgecomb whenever Stephen King was on the set. The author later called The Green Mile the most faithful adaptation of his work.

Every Friday Night, Tom Hanks Treated The Whole Crew To A Meal

Tom Hanks in The Green Mile

During the shoot for The Green Mile, Tom Hanks bought a meal for everyone in the crew every Friday night. That’s a nice gesture, especially considering that a gargantuan three-hour movie like this one takes a lot more weeks to shoot than most feature films.

This is unsurprising, though, as Tom Hanks is reputed to be one of the kindest actors in Hollywood, with feel-good stories about his seemingly legendary kindness coming from both filmmakers and people he just bumps into on the streets. It's come to the point where Hanks has been dubbed "America's Dad" and this weekly treat is just one of many proofs of this.

NEXT: Get Busy Livin' Or Get Busy Dyin': 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Shawshank Redemption