Rob did start directing Shawshank, but Frank Darabont did take over directing duties.

Director and Castle Rock Entertainment co-founder Rob Reiner also liked the script. He offered Darabont between $2.4 millionand $3 million to allow him to direct it himself. Reiner, who had previously adapted King's 1982 novella The Body into the 1986 film Stand by Me, planned to cast Tom Cruise as Andy and Harrison Ford as Red.

Castle Rock Entertainment offered to finance any other film Darabont wanted to develop. Darabont seriously considered the offer, citing growing up poor in Los Angeles, believing it would elevate his standing in the industry, and that Castle Rock Entertainment could have contractually fired him and given the film to Reiner anyway, but he chose to remain the director, saying in a 2014 Variety interview, "you can continue to defer your dreams in exchange for money and, you know, die without ever having done the thing you set out to do". Reiner served as Darabont's mentor on the project, instead.

Considering his casting choices, I'm glad Reiner didn't direct it

You may be confused because they were Stephen King adaptations and Reiner directed 2 King adaptations (Stand By Me & Misery)

Would they do it posthumously?

The next Oscars (the 98th Academy Awards) will be Sunday, Mar 15, 2026, 4 - 7 PM, Pacific time.

I used to cover them every year, as part of my job. I bet the producers are already assembling a tribute to Rob Reiner's work. They damn well should be. He was the son of an entertainment giant, and he built himself into an industry giant in his own right. Wonder if they'll throw in a special Lifetime Achievement statuette for the occasion. Gotta say that would have been one EPIC acceptance speech.



Damn.

voted posthumously. Edward G. Robinson, for example, died before the ceremony that awarded him his Lifetime Achievement Award but he was alive when he was named the recipient of the award.

The Body.

Is, in my humble opinion, the perfect movie.
It is in many ways, a mockumentary of the Erol Flynn and "brave hero rescuing the princess" movie genre.

It has comedy. Adventure. Drama. Thrills. And least we forget, true love.

It also has the distinction of the first movie I would regularly quote beside Monty Python's Life of Brian and Holy Grail.

By any measure Princess Bride is one of the greatest movies ever made.

I am absolutely heartbroken about his death and the manner in which it happened.

As a parent, I also cannot imagine the sadness he felt in those final moments knowing that he was dying at the hand of the child he loved. Sorry, I know that's dark but lately everything seems dark and I just want this insanity to stop.

Every actor in the ensemble - I'm particularly fond of Wallace Shawn in the film - plays the role, even the campy roles to the max.

Specifically when certain cretins are standing at a microphone repeating a particular word over and over again, as said cretin is known to do.

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Many years ago I used to get him confused with the "Lord of the Flies" author.

And Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell have had special screening dates with Q&As. I saw O'Connell posted a photo of him at 11 with Reiner on set while Wheaton wrote a blog entry. O'Connell has always said Reiner was wonderful to work with and gave him his shot. Wheaton has talked about him several times over the years, saying he felt safe around Reiner and like he actually cared. (His parents were narcissists who were verbally and emotionally abusive, forced him into acting and was later discovered to have taken nearly all of his earnings.)

Reiner touched so many lives.

He didn't seem "elite" but rather like one of the many regular people.