TRIVIA: Because Danny Lloyd was so young and since it was his first acting job, Stanley Kubrick was highly protective of the child. During the shooting of the movie, Lloyd was under the impression that the film he was making was a drama, not a horror movie. In fact, when Wendy carries Danny away while shouting at Jack in the Colorado Lounge, she is actually carrying a lifesize dummy so Lloyd would not have to be in the scene. He only realized the truth several years later, when he was shown a heavily edited version of the film. He did not see the uncut version of the film until he was 17 - eleven years after he had made it. Both Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall have expressed open resentment against the reception of this film, feeling that critics and audiences credited Stanley Kubrick solely for the films success without considering the efforts of the actors, crew or the strength of Stephen Kings underlying material. Both Nicholson and Duvall have said that the film was one of the hardest of their careers; in fact, Nicholson considers Duvalls performance the most difficult role hes ever seen an actor take on. Duvall also considers her performance the hardest of her life. There were so many changes to the script during shooting that Jack Nicholson claimed he stopped reading it. He would read only the new pages that were given to him each day. Tony Burton, who had a brief role as Larry Durkin the garage owner, arrived on set one day carrying a chess set in hopes of getting in a game with someone during a break from filming. Stanley Kubrick, an avid chess player who had in his youth played for money, noticed the chess set. Despite production being behind schedule, Kubrick proceeded to call off filming for the day and engage in a set of games with Burton. Burton only managed to win one game, but nevertheless the director thanked him, since it had been some time that hed played against a challenging opponent. For the scene in which Jack breaks down the bathroom door, the props department built a door that could be easily broken. However, Jack Nicholson had worked as a volunteer fire marshal and tore it apart far too easily. The props department were then forced to build a stronger door. The idea for Danny Lloyd to move his finger when he was talking as Tony was his own; he did it spontaneously during his very first audition. All of the interior rooms of the Overlook Hotel were filmed at Elstree Studios in England, including the Colorado Lounge, where Jack does his typing. Because of the intense heat generated from the lighting used to recreate window sunlight (the room took 700,000 watts of light per window to make it look like a snowy day outside), the lounge set caught fire. Fortunately all of the scenes had been completed there, so the set was rebuilt with a higher ceiling, and the same area was eventually used by Steven Spielberg as the snake-filled Well of the Souls tomb in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). At the time of release, it was the policy of the MPAA to not allow the portrayal of blood in trailers that would be approved for all audiences. Bizarrely, the trailer for The Shining consists entirely of the shot of blood pouring out of the elevator. Stanley Kubrick had convinced the board the blood flooding out of the elevator was actually rusty water. Despite Stanley Kubricks fierce demands on everyone, Jack Nicholson admitted to having a good working relationship with him. It was with Shelley Duvall that he was a completely different director. He allegedly picked on her more than anyone else, as seen in the documentaries Making The Shining (1980) and Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001). He would really lose his temper with her, even going so far as to say that she was wasting the time of everyone on the set. She later reflected that he was probably pushing her to her limits to get the best out of her, and that she wouldnt trade the experience for anything - but it was not something she ever wished to repeat. Stanley Kubrick, known for his compulsiveness and numerous retakes, got the difficult shot of blood pouring from the elevators in only three takes. This would be remarkable if it werent for the fact that the shot took nine days to set up; every time the doors opened and the blood poured out, Kubrick would say, It doesnt look like blood. In the end, the shot took approximately a year to get right. Stephen King, the author of the book on which the movie was based, was quite disappointed in the final film. While admitting that Stanley Kubricks visuals were stunning, he said that was surface and not substance. He often described the film as A fancy car without an engine. The throwing around of the tennis ball inside the Overlook Hotel was Jack Nicholsons idea. The script originally only specified that, Jack is not working. On the DVD commentary track for Making The Shining (1980), Vivian Kubrick reveals that Shelley Duvall received no sympathy at all from anyone on the set. This was apparently Stanley Kubricks tactic in making her feel utterly hopeless. This is most evident in the documentary when he tells Vivian, Dont sympathize with Shelley. Kubrick then goes on to tell Duvall, It doesnt help you.. According to Shelley Duvall the infamous Heeres Johnny! scene took 3 days to film and the use of 60 doors. Walter Frith is watching...
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 03:09:30 +0000
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