Stanley Kubrick’s big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel The Shining is one of the most memorable and iconic horror movies ever made. Although the movie deviated wildly from the plot and tone of the source material, it morphed into something that was different, but equally fantastic, ripped straight from Kubrick’s meticulous mind (but that’s not to discount the efforts of the cast and crew, who also put their all into making The Shining special), standing out as its own beast. The making of the movie is almost as interesting as the movie itself, so here are 10 Creepy Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Shining.
10 Stanley Kubrick was unfamiliar with Ed McMahon’s catchphrase
It’s widely known that Jack Nicholson improvised the line, “Here’s Johnny!,” clearly taken from Ed McMahon’s catchphrase that he used on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. However, since Stanley Kubrick lived in the UK, where they don’t air The Tonight Show, he was completely unfamiliar with McMahon’s catchphrase, so he was baffled when Nicholson ad-libbed it during The Shining’s most intense scene. The director even thought about removing it from the movie altogether. Fortunately, he was swayed and the line made it to the final cut. Now, it’s one of the best-remembered movie quotes of all time.
9 The snow in the maze was actually 900 tons of salt and crushed Styrofoam
The chase through the snowy maze at the end of The Shining is one of the most memorable climactic set pieces in the history of horror cinema. It’s astoundingly made, with the camera angles, lighting, set design and editing all working in tandem to sell the terror, and also the cold temperature. It actually feels chilly watching that scene, like you’re really there in the freezing-cold snow. But as it turns out, the snow wasn’t really snow at all. The film crew just filled the maze with 900 tons of salt and crushed Styrofoam.
8 It was Danny Lloyd’s own idea to wiggle his finger when he talks to Tony
Whenever Danny Torrance is talking to his imaginary friend Tony, through whom he channels his “shining” abilities, he wiggles his finger. As it turns out, this wasn’t in the original script, or even in any of the sides for the character. Child actor Danny Lloyd came up with the quirky mannerism himself, and just started doing it during his first audition for the role. Stanley Kubrick liked the finger-wiggling idea so much that he gave Lloyd the part and included it in the final product. Admittedly, a kid talking to his finger is infinitely creepier than a kid just talking to himself.
7 Jack Nicholson achieved his character’s anger by only eating cheese sandwiches
In order to appear as seething as his character Jack Torrance was required to be throughout the movie, Jack Nicholson ate nothing but cheese sandwiches for two weeks before starting production, because he really, really hates cheese sandwiches. This might seem like an odd thing to do, but it clearly worked out.
Just look at the burning intensity in his eyes in any scene where he’s staring blankly across the room or arguing with Wendy or chasing Danny across the snowbound maze. Nicholson gave a chilling performance in The Shining, and it’s all thanks to a cheese sandwich diet.
6 The elevator shot was done in three takes, but it took a year to get right
Everyone remembers The Shining’s shot of the elevator doors opening and blood flooding out of it. Although Stanley Kubrick was known for frustrating his actors and crew members with take after take after take, this shot was achieved in just three. However, those takes were the result of a deliberation process that took a year. It took nine days to set up a clean hallway with an elevator full of blood ready to open. In the two unsuccessful takes, Kubrick didn’t feel like the fake blood looked enough like blood, and since an elevator isn’t a place that audiences would expect to see blood, it had to look like the real thing to sell the moment.
5 The stress of playing Wendy Torrance caused Shelley Duvall’s hair to fall out
Jack Nicholson has said that Wendy Torrance is one of the most difficult roles that he’s ever seen an actor take on, and he’s worked with the best in the business for decades. Shelley Duvall did a terrific job of selling Wendy’s growing anxiety. Her sense of helplessness and despair when she realizes she’s trapped at the hotel and her husband has the increasing urge to kill her and her son. Unfortunately, though, the performance took a toll on Duvall's health. The stress of playing Wendy gave her nervous exhaustion, which led to such adverse health effects as feeling physically ill and losing some of her hair.
4 The Shining was one of the first movies to use the Steadicam
Back in the mid-‘70s, the world of cinematography was hit with a brand-new technology that would change everything: the Steadicam. The first movies to use it included Rocky, Bound for Glory, and Marathon Man. The Shining was one of these movies, being among the first half-dozen or so films to ever use a Steadicam.
Stanley Kubrick employed the Steadicam during the chilling climactic sequence in which Jack chases Danny around a hedge maze with an ax. Kubrick would go on to use the Steadicam in most of his subsequent movies, because it’s a great way to bring some life and energy to your shots.
3 Stanley Kubrick hid the horrific aspects from a young Danny Lloyd
Since Danny Lloyd was just a little kid at the time of shooting The Shining and he’d never made a movie before, Stanley Kubrick was very protective of him, and didn’t let on that the movie he was making had ghostly naked old ladies and gallons of blood pouring out of an elevator. As far as Lloyd knew, just from what Kubrick and the crew showed and told him, the movie he was making was a drama. When Wendy carries Danny through the hotel, yelling at Jack, she’s actually just holding a life-size dummy, which was done to avoid putting Lloyd in such an intense scene.
2 The “Here’s Johnny!” scene required three days and 60 doors to shoot
Easily the most iconic moment in The Shining is when Wendy locks herself in a bathroom and Jack starts hacking away at the door with an ax. Then, when he’s created a big enough hole, he sticks his head in and cries out, “Here’s Johnny!” The camera movements are so delicate, tracking the ax with extreme focus as it goes in and out of the door. It turns out this was achieved through a rigorous process of trial-and-error. According to Shelley Duvall, this scene was filmed over the course of three days and the crew went through 60 doors before finally getting all the shots they needed.
1 Stephen King hated the movie
This piece of trivia is pretty well-known. (In fact, it became a plot point in the movie Ready Player One.) While critics and audiences laud The Shining as one of the greatest horror films ever made, Stephen King was unhappy with how Stanley Kubrick adapted his work. King called the movie “a big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it.” The author has compared the difference between the book and the movie to the difference between fire and ice, respectively. That is to say, King’s novel has passion and emotion, whereas Kubrick’s film is cold and calculated. Still, both could be considered great.
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