12 Actors Who Almost Walked Off Huge Movies (And Why)
5. Shelley Duvall Was Pushed To Breaking Point - The Shining
From his epic science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey, to his brutal Vietnam war film Full Metal Jacket, Stanley Kubrick’s films covered a wide range of genres and are remembered for their dark humour, unique cinematography, evocative use of music and realism.
But one of his most iconic films was his adaptation of Stephen King's psychological horror book, The Shining.
Despite the film being hailed as a major success and a valuable contribution to the horror genre, King famously stated it was a poor adaptation of his work and was the only adaptation of his novels he could remember hating. King was especially unhappy about Shelley Duvall’s performance as Wendy Torrance.
And it turns out the feeling was mutual.
For the majority of the film, Duvall was suffering from extreme dehydration and exhaustion from all the screaming and crying Kubrick was demanding from her. She had to perform the famous baseball bat scene 127 times and began to lose some of her hair by the end of production.
Duvall would confess that she learned a great deal from Kubrick, but was very close to leaving the film due to his unorthodox directing style.