The Shining would rank among the top horror films of all time if we had to compile a list of the scariest and most influential horror movies. Legendary director Stanley Kubrick made a special effort when he chose to adapt the same-titled book from Stephen King. Although the novelist was not particularly happy with the revisions, the movie did connect with horror aficionados despite the author’s considerable creative license.
The way Stanley Kubrick tackles the themes of isolation and the descent into madness and merges them with horror and violence in the film is undoubtedly one of the narrative’s most unsettling elements.
A brilliant narrative, bolstered by a few startling incidents, and a heart-pounding last fifteen minutes made sure that this would go down in history as one of the best stories ever told. However, in this video, we will be going off the beaten route and bringing you the things that went on behind the scenes, including some controversies and little-known details that will be a pleasure for fans who have cherished this classic for so long.
Shelley Duval was traumatized on the sets!
Being directed by Stanley Kubrick may seem like a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but for Shelley Duval, the experience on the set was incredibly painful. With his cast and staff, Kubrick was renowned for being very demanding, and the perfectionist director did everything in his power to get the pictures just right.
He was particularly harsh with Shelly Duval, and the actress suffered as a result of the famed 127-take sequence. It was the scene where she had to swing a bat at Jack after she was cornered by the maniac.
She was forced to continue working without any breaks and it left her severely dehydrated,with wounded hands, and a sore throat. The director expected her to induce panic and fear effortlessly, and he was often a bit too rude and harsh with his leading lady. Even her co-stars and the crew felt bad about her predicament, and the imposition of the methodical acting demanded by Kubrick wasn’t really a piece of cake.
She later revealed that she was in poor health and lost lots of hair during this traumatic shooting period. The character of Wendy had to go through some disturbing emotions, and Shelly Duval tried her best to appease the wrath of Kubrick, who reportedly bullied her at times in front of everyone else.
However, the actress also went on to call Stanley Kubrick a friendly director who only meant well. He would spend hours talking to the actors before the scenes, and the crew was often left frustrated with the waiting.
Stephen King hated the movie adaptation
We have already spoken about how Stanley Kubrick changed quite a few things about the novel while working on The Shining. It is believed that Stephen King himself had penned down a draft for the screenplay of the film, but the director didn’t even bother reading through it.
He collaborated with Diane Johnson to get the script together, and this started off a rivalry between the veteran director and the popular novelist. Stephen King is usually known to be pretty supportive about the movie adaptations of his works, but this time around he was extra critical.
He went on record to say that this was the only movie adaptation of his novels that he hated. The portrayal of Wendy left him particularly displeased, and he spoke about Shelly Duvall’s role calling it a bland character only there to scream and be stupid! He remarked that the film descended from horror and supernatural evil to a tale of domestic tragedy.
While it may seem like Stanley Kubrick was quite disdainful about Stephen King’s talent, he did call up the writer to talk about his views on religion and God. He wanted to understand the psyche that went behind writing ghost stories that believe in the afterlife. It is needless to say, that the two had some basic philosophical differences as well!
The elevator sequence took over a year!
You might be wondering how a scene can take over a year to be filmed, and you are not wrong! It was done in simply three takes, but it was the thought process that took over twelve months to be perfected.
The elevator scene was easily one of the most memorable moments in the movie, and the doors opening to have blood gushing down in waves flooding the hallway shocked the audience beyond imagination. The director was not particularly happy with the fake blood that was being used, and he was keen to have an element of realism in the scene.
The crew had to work for nine days to set up the clean hallway, with an elevator filled with blood that could stream out when required. Stanley Kubrick also wanted to get this scene in the trailer, even though the Motion Picture Association wasn’t very kind to gory details passed into the trailer of a movie. Eventually, he convinced the members of the board stating that it wasn’t blood, but simply rusty water! Things people do to get everything perfect for their movies!
The secrets of Room 217 and Overlook Hotel
It hardly takes a genius to figure out that the hotel was one of the most important locations in the movie, and much of the filming of the exterior was completed in the Overlook Hotel, which happened to be Timberline Lodge in Oregon.
The director was looking for a specific look and the patterned carpeted floors and long hallways gave him just what he wanted. Even then, he set up a team to scan through thousands of hotels in the US, and the final result is often termed as a patchwork that takes inspiration from several others.
Many of the creepy events are actually premised in Room 217 in the novel, but Timberline Lodge did not want the future visitors to be spooked because of the movie. They offered them a fake room number 237, which didn’t even exist, and hotel management was left surprised when several people actually demanded that specific room to enjoy their stay. Clearly, they underestimated the passion of the horror fans out there!
The cheese sandwich saga!
Jack Nicholson is one of the most crucial assets of the movie, and his effortless acting performance made the role so believable for the fans. As you can imagine, it required him to slip into a character who was slowly losing his mental stability, and it asked for a combination of solitude, irritation, depression, and a bit of crazy.
Jack Nicholson was up for the challenge, but Stanley Kubrick didn’t leave it all to his talent. In order to get him all riled up, the director kept feeding him cheese sandwiches for two weeks, and the actor simply loathed cheese sandwiches.
It further fuelled the rage in him, and the irritation that you see on screen is also due to the diet that was forced upon him. Stephen King may not have liked the idea of him cast in the movie, but there is no denying the fact that no one else would have probably aced the role as perfectly as he did.
Jack Nicholson, however, was a true professional, and did everything in his capacity to make his character realistic for the audience. From method acting to improvising when required, the fans have absolutely no complaints regarding the evergreen performance from this legend. He even offered his valuable inputs for certain scenes, and improvised the “Here’s Johnny” line in the scene, where he breaks down the bathroom door with an ax.
Getting the door right was quite a task
Speaking of breaking down doors, the director had to find an adequately strong framework that would require some special efforts to be broken down. Unfortunately, one of the scariest scenes in horror history had to struggle quite a bit regarding the doors.
Jack Nicholson had once volunteered to be a fire marshal, and the door simply wasn’t strong enough for him. After he tore it down too quickly and easily, the props department had to hunt for something a lot stronger.
Almost sixty doors were used over three days to get the scene right, and finally the perfectionist in Stanley Kubrick was happy with the end results. He even used the old-school pan-and-scan technique to film this scene, and it ensured that the viewers experienced true fear and panic while it panned out.
Even the child-actor improvised
You will always expect a power-packed performance from Jack Nicholson, but the little boy played by Danny Lloyd stole the show with his mature portrayal of Jack and Wendy’s son Danny. He was bestowed with the gift of the shining, and it allowed him to foresee certain things. He witnessed the horrific past that the hotel had endured, and he could sense when something bad was about to happen.
One of the quirks of this adorable, yet creepy character was the way he spoke to his imaginary friend Tony. He is seen waggling his finger while he speaks to the imaginary guy, and the director never instructed him to do so. However, he loved the idea and they went ahead with this mannerism included in Danny.
Besides the fact that Kubrick was mightily impressed with the kid, he was also uncharacteristically kind and loving towards his child actor. Danny Lloyd was never told that it was a horror flick, and the director sheltered him from the entire process by telling him that they were shooting for a drama.
The efforts certainly bore fruit because the fans don’t hesitate to accept that the performance of the talented child actor added greatly to the excellence of the narrative. It is unfortunate that he did not have an extended acting career, and this is the only notable project that he was a part of.
Who typed 500 pages of the same sentence?
It took a special something for Stanley Kubrick to hire someone because he sought a level of dedication that wasn’t commonly found. It becomes clearer from some of the moments in the movie that require extraordinary perseverance from the crew.
One such scene was when Wendy finds five hundred pages filled with the phrase, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Now, if you consider today’s times it is a walk in the park because of the copy paste functions.
However, the movie was made when typewriters were in prominence, and it probably meant that someone had to actually type the same thing for 500 pages. This process was reportedly done by the director’s assistant, and she had to do this over and over again to ensure that there were enough pages for retakes if required. She even recreated the same in five other languages for the international release of the movie.
There are some who believe that Kubrick’s typewriter had built-in memory, and it could turn out the repeated pages without an actual person typing them. But that doesn’t explain the different layouts and mistakes that can be found in the pages. Whatever the arrangement was, it was a mystery that will never be answered because Stanley Kubrick did not reveal the process before his death.
The sets of The Shining burned down
Movie sets are always prone to accidents, but it was a strange coincidence when a major fire broke out towards the end of shooting. The sets were burned to the ground as a result of the massive fire, and it was never found out what caused the fire.
The damages were worth a little over $2.5 million, and there is even a hilarious picture of Stanley Kubrick laughing in front of this wreckage. The coincidence is that the novel actually ends with the Overlook hotel burning down, and it was a strange play of fate to ensure that something similar happened off-screen!
The Maze was surprisingly tricky
Who can forget the final scene, where Jack chases young Danny through the snow-covered hedge maze outside the hotel premises! It took a superhuman effort to get the maze right, and the production team reportedly used 900 tons of salt and lots of crushed Styrofoam to perfect the snowy appearance.
Besides, the director was initially unhappy about the maze being a bit too simple for his taste. It seemed rather small and easily solvable for Kubrick, and at this point the crew challenged him to take a walk inside unguided. He soon lost his way and he was left stranded for some time while the crew watched in satisfaction that their work was actually confusing enough.
Even the cast and crew members kept getting lost in the maze and they used walkie-talkies while stepping inside. When we are amazed by facts like the movie took over five years to be made, it was probably because of the urge to take no shortcuts and make everything perfect.
Those who are familiar with the novel would know that Stephen King envisioned the hedge maze very differently. The hedges were trimmed to look like animals, and towards the end these animals came to life. The director didn’t find this to be very convincing and arranged the changes accordingly.
Some disturbing conspiracy theories
You simply don’t make a successful movie in Hollywood without a few major conspiracy theories around it. People have offered their own take on the imagery in the movie, and according to some the movie was actually the confession of Stanley Kubrick for helping to film the fake landing on the moon.
Other theorists suggest that the movie projects the genocide of Native Americans, and yet others believe that the movie is essentially about concentration camps and the holocaust. The makers and people involved have laughed off these outrageous assumptions, but the rumors are so many that they have their own documentary called Room 237.
We hope that these fascinating things behind the scenes will make it more enjoyable for you to watch the movie next time. The Shining is one of those horror flicks that come once in a few decades, and it will always remain one of the late director’s finest works.
All controversies, rumors, and conspiracy theories aside, we are proud and privileged to be part of the audience who get to witness the magic unfold through the narrative. Do let us know in the comments below about the facts that impressed you the most, and feel free to add in your take on the same!