The ASPCA objected to the scene where Brooks fed Jake a live maggot, so they had to go find maggots that had already died of natural causes. Seriously. Really.
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You know that mugshot we see of Red when his appeal for parole is being rejected? They did a good job of finding someone who could pass for a young Morgan Freeman, didn't they? There's a reason for that. The guy in the mug shot is Alfonso Freeman, his son. (Source.)

Were you as grossed out as we were by that sewer full of…well, sewer stuff? It might make you happy to learn that it was all just a mixture of chocolate syrup, sawdust and water. Hey, if someone told us we could crawl through a pipe full of chocolate, we may not even need another reason to escape.
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Stephen King sold the rights to his little prison story for a piddling $5,000 and he never even cashed the check. In fact, years later he even had it framed and then sent it back to Darabont, the director, with the note: "In case you never need bail money. Love, Steve." Hint for aspiring writers: DON'T DO THAT.
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Tom Hanks was offered the part of Andy but was busy at the time making some film called Forrest Gump. Kevin Costner turned it down to star in Waterworld. Some of us make better career decisions than others.
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