Hair loss and psycho balance. For the anniversary of ”Shining”
Today all moviegoers of the world are celebrating the anniversary of the cult "Shining". Stanley Kubrick's 40-year-old film based on Stephen King's novel, and to this day, after thousands of the coolest horror films with newfangled special effects, is able to scare the devil even if you watch it for the tenth time. The story of one family imprisoned in an empty hotel, and the head of this family, gradually sinking into the abyss of madness, excites and rivets to the screen. LostFilm.INFO pays tribute to the team on and off the camera and recalls the most interesting facts about filming one of the greatest films in cinema history.About child protection Since Danny Lloyd, the performer of the role of Danny Torrance, was too small at the time of filming, Stanley Kubrick protected his psyche from injuries in every possible way. So, Danny didn't know he was doing a horror movie. He was told that it was a drama. In some of the most violent scenes, a life-size doll was used instead of the boy. The actor found out the truth only a few years later, when he was shown a heavily edited version of the picture. He could see the full version only at 17, 11 years after filming.  About 60 doors and hateful sandwiches For the scene in which Jack Nicholson breaks into the bathroom, the props made a special door that breaks easily. But since the actor once worked as a volunteer in the fire department, he dealt with this props playfully. As a result, the off-screen team had to make him a new, stronger door. According to Shelley Duvall, on the filming of the cult moment `` Here's Johnny! '' it took three days and about sixty doors. And in order to bring Nicholson to the right moment, he was fed the cheese sandwiches he hates for several days prior to working on this scene. About hair loss Jack was living with Angelica Houston at the time. Later, she said that he was so tired of Kubrick's manner of shooting an endless number of takes (sometimes more than a hundred for one scene) that, when he came home after filming, the actor would simply fall on the bed and instantly fall asleep. As for Shelley, she admitted that it was the most difficult role in her career, so difficult that the actress began to lose her hair on nerves, and then she became completely ill. Duvall even thought Kubrick was harassing her on purpose to push her to the limit. Subsequently, she said that she would not agree to exchange this invaluable experience for anything, but she also did not burn with desire to repeat it.  About throwing books against the wall After filming Barry Lyndon, Kubrick was looking for inspiration. It looked like this: the secretary sitting in the next office heard the filmmaker, one after another, throwing books against the wall that had not entered him. But then Stanley took up the novel The Shining, and after a while the secretary realized that he had not heard the familiar sound - the director had found what he was looking for. The secretary did not yet know that soon he would have to spend weeks, if not months, to print dozens of pages with the phrase"Endless work without rest and entertainment makes Jack a boring guy". For the very scene where Wendy decides to see what her husband has been working on all this time.  On the balance of psychoticity Stanley Kubrick considered actors such as Robert De Niro and Robin Williams for the role of Jack Torrance, but ultimately turned them down. After watching Taxi Driver, the director decided that De Niro wasn't psychotic enough for the role, and he dismissed Williams after he saw the TV show Mork and Mindy. According to Stanley, Robin was too psychotic there. Stephen King, by the way, had his own vision and his own candidates. He believed that the main character should initially be absolutely normal, without any signs of mental disorders, then his fall would have looked much more dramatic. Based on these considerations, he saw Michael Moriarty or John Voight as Jack Torrance. On refusal to the King Before hiring screenwriter Diane Johnson, Kubrick read Stephen King's screenplay and rejected it. Just think, the Horror King had the audacity to present his own story too close to the original, which made it look like a more traditional horror. Kubrick had a different vision. He also admired Diane's psychological novel The Shadow Knows and her fascination with Gothic. Therefore, King's script remained unrealized, and we got "The Shining" as one of the greatest directors of our time saw it.  About Kubrick's whims Kubrick rejected about three hundred versions of the film's posters until he saw the one that arranged for him. But the most legendary is, of course, the director's passion for a large number of takes. Actor Philip Stone recalled how, after 60 attempts to shoot one scene, he sat down with Nicholson and Kubrick to watch it, and Jack said:"It turned out pretty good, didn't it, Stanley?".“Yes, great, - the director answered. -Let's try again ". About belief in hell The very first time, Kubrick called King with a question about the film adaptation early in the morning. That is, it was early morning at Stephen's, and Stanley, apparently, simply forgot about the time difference between England and Maine. Frightened by the morning bell and tormented by a terrible hangover, the King of Horrors thought that some kind of misfortune had happened to one of his children. But it was Kubrick who, right off the bat, began to talk about how optimistic ghost stories are, because they suggest that a person can survive death."But what about hell?"Stephen tried to keep small talk. Stanley thought a little and said:"I don't believe in hell". The great writer noticed that there are people who not only believe in hell, but also fear it more than death. Some believe  Kubrick's unheard-of generosity Fragments of footage of the Volkswagen Beetle heading towards the Overlook Hotel at the start of the film were later used by Ridley Scott when asked by WB bosses to add a happy ending to the original Blade Runner. Kubrick agreed on the condition that Ridley only take the excerpts not included in The Shining. As you can imagine, it was easy to fulfill this condition ...  About King's reaction Everyone knows that the Horror King doesn't like Kubrick's adaptation. And here's why: when King was writing the novel, he imagined Jack Torrance to be initially a good person, whose soul, firstly, is slowly conquered by the forces of evil, and secondly, tormented by alcoholic demons. Stephen was confident that Nicholson's previous roles, where he often appeared in the images of unstable characters, left an imprint on the on-screen incarnation of Jack Torrance. As if in the film he is immediately shown to be too irritable and does not have the inner kindness that the author of the book put into him. Finally, Stephen was disappointed that Kubrick had not given enough attention to the topic of family breakdown due to alcoholism. But for the great and the terrible, this very topic was super personal and extremely important. The Topic of Article: Hair loss and psycho balance. For the anniversary of ”Shining”. |
