10 Behind-The-Scenes Stories That Spoil Classic Movies
9. The Set Of The Shining Was A Total Mess
Stanley Kubrick was a very organised man. The director knew how to get what he wanted on his sets. Which on The Shining meant demanding hundreds of takes of small scenes and planning out every last detail of every last frame and every last piece of set design before even getting behind the camera. Which is especially impressive on a film as crazy as that. The Overlook Hotel was utter chaos. Jack Nicholson started refusing to learn his lines because Kubrick and co-screenwriter Diane Johnson were constantly redrafting them on set, and Shelley Duvall almost had a nervous breakdown because of the constant stress the director kept her under during the entire thirteen month shoot. Yes, thirteen months. In the case of Duvall, Kubrick wanted to get a method performance out of her which consisted of literally terrifying her the way Jack Torrance did Wendy. Nicholson's anger definitely played into his character, too. But knowing that the real-life Overlook Hotel was even more monstrous than the one on screen dampens the film's terror somewhat.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
